The Best (and Worst) of the West! Reviews and Observations on B-Westerns by Boyd Magers Review Archives

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Printing this webpage: I would suggest you do NOT attempt to print this.  When last I checked, this would require a bunch of pages to print.  Plus the reviews are not in any particular order, so it would be difficult to wade through all those pages looking for a film title, western hero, etc.  If you wish to have this information locally on your PC, I would recommend you click on "File" and then do a "save as" in Internet Explorer or Netscape. And save this page on your hard drive (as an .htm or .html file type).  If you also want Boyd's picture, the red stars and garbage can, put your mouse pointer on each image, click with your right mouse button, and do a "save image or picture as" to the same area on your hard drive where the main page will be saved.  The Search/Find function noted above will work on webpages saved to your hard disk.

Individual film reviews - as well as the complete The Best (and Worst) of the West! film review collection - is copyright ©2000-2009 by Boyd Magers. All rights reserved.

The Ratings

Superior

Good

OK

Poor

A real dud !

 FIGHTING LAWMAN (1953 Allied Artists)
Fighting Marshal Wayne Morris goes after three men who robbed a bank three years ago in Flagstaff (John Kellogg, Harry Lauter, John Pickard). Now living under assumed names in Prescott, it's the greedy sister (Virginia Grey) of a fourth bandit (Rick Vallin), now dead, who proves their undoing. Bit different in plot, but still only a mediocre affair. It's acknowledged among B-western aficionados that either Wayne Morris or Johnny Carpenter made the last 'series' B-westerns. Born in 1914 in L.A., Wayne Morris was a name to reckon with at Warner Bros. before WWII with a string of successes that include KID GALAHAD, MEN ARE SUCH FOOLS, BROTHER RAT, RETURN OF DR. X, FLIGHT ANGELS, VALLEY OF THE GIANTS, SMILING GHOST and BAD MEN OF MISSOURI. During WWII, flight lieutenant Morris flew F6F Hellcats off the U.S.S. Essex in the South Pacific where he became an American ace, credited with seven confirmed (and one probable) in action over Wake, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He flew 57 missions and was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air medals. Released from the service in 1945, he picked up where he left off at WB, but now in second lead position to Dane Clark, Ronald Reagan and Gary Cooper in films such as TASK FORCE and DEEP VALLEY. His one big starrer was the popular YOUNGER BROTHERS ('49). Having gained a bit of weight, the '50s saw him out at WB and freelancing at Columbia and U.A. including STAGE TO TUCSON w/Rod Cameron and his own SIERRA PASSAGE ('51) at Monogram. Seven more leads followed at Monogram/Allied Artists between '52-'54 with TWO GUNS AND A BADGE being the last - and often accepted 'last' B-western made. FIGHTING LAWMAN was written by the prolific (and talented) Daniel B. Ullman (1918-1979) who began in the business as a script supervisor. Ullman also scripted Morris' STAR OF TEXAS, MARKSMAN and TWO GUNS AND A BADGE. He also wrote over 30 other westerns for Whip Wilson, Rod Cameron, Bill Elliott, Don Barry, George Montgomery and Joel McCrea as well as TVers like BIG VALLEY and WILD WILD WEST.

 BILLY THE KID IN TEXAS (1940 PRC)
Through a set of circumstances Billy the Kid (Bob Steele) and pal Fuzzy St. John become the law in Corral City as they're hired to force out a gang of toughs headed up by John Merton and Charlie King. After Billy beats up Charlie in one of their routine filmic set-tos, the gang send for gunman Carleton Young to rub out Billy. But oops - Young is really Billy's brother! To complicate matters further, leading lady Terry Walker finds an old wanted poster of Billy the Kid. Steele made 6 as the good-badman for the '40-'41 season before he left PRC to become a Mesquiteer at Republic. He was replaced at PRC by Buster Crabbe who made the Billy role his own, still with Fuzzy as sidekick. Fuzzy was really being utilized by PRC from '40-'43 appearing (unlike any other sidekick before or since) in two series simultaneously - the Billy the Kids (Steele and Crabbe) and the Lone Riders (Houston and Livingston). Post '43 he finished up with Crabbe til '46, then hooked up with Lash LaRue in '47, still at PRC.

 LAW RIDES AGAIN (1943 Monogram)
Underhanded Indian agent Kenneth Harlan, aided by "escaped" prisoner Jack LaRue, is cheating the Arizona Indians of their government allotted cattle shipments, causing the Indians to raid stagecoaches and wagon trains. The law rides again as Hoot Gibson and Ken Maynard (The Trail Blazers) help stage line owner Betty Miles and Sheriff Kenne Duncan restore peace. Old timer Hank Bell - who's usually just a townsperson or looker on - takes an active part as one of Harlan's henchmen along with John Merton and Chief Thunder Cloud. Yep, the same Chief Thunder Cloud who five films later would himself become a Trail Blazer, although in this one he's just a bad Indian. Maynard debuts his famous, "Well, here we go again" line whenever Hooter has one of his brilliant ideas. Some hard riding action sequences, made all the more exciting by Frank Sanucci's chase music. The famous stock footage shot from WAR PAINT ('26) of Indians crossing the Wind River near Lander, WY, is utilized. This is the last Maynard film directed by Alan James who had been associated with Ken off and on since the '30s.

 FORTY THIEVES (1944 United Artists)
Sheriff Hopalong Cassidy is voted out of office in a rigged election run by Douglas Dumbrille and his 40 thieves (Glenn Strange, Wally Wales, Jack Rockwell, Bob Kortman, etc.). They elect a figurehead sheriff, milquetoast Kirk Alyn, but Hoppy (with his pals Andy Clyde and Jimmy Rogers) bring single-handed justice to ballot box stuffers. Leading lady Louise Currie is wasted as judge Robert Frazer's daughter. This was the last Hoppy film produced by Harry 'Pop' Sherman; 54 (mostly) classic B-westerns over 9 years. It's all out action expertly handled by veteran Hoppy director Les Selander - who moved on to Republic. Within two years, Bill Boyd bought the rights to Hoppy from Sherman for a quarter of a million and the rest is history.

 BOSS OF RAWHIDE (1943 PRC)
Dave (Tex) O'Brien and Jim Newill starred in 14 range sagas at PRC from late '42 to mid '44. (Newill left and Tex Ritter finished off the series with O'Brien in 8 more.) At first the series was co-produced by Alfred Stern and Arthur Alexander but by the 7th title, they were alternating films as producer. In this, the 8th of the series (produced by Stern), a distinct drawback is the unfunny, ludicrous minstrel show staged midway by Guy Wilkerson, Billy Bletcher and Dan White in blackface. Unusual for a B-western is the sheer glee that spreads over Jack Ingram's face in extreme close up as he's about to kill someone with his high powered rifle. But O'Brien stalks him down with deadly resolve after Ingram guns down Dave's ranger father (Robert Hill). Robert F. Hill (1886-1966) was a writer/director who began in silents (GREAT RADIUM MYSERY serial in 1919) and worked into the '50s, occasionally moonlighting as an actor. James Newill is an often overlooked and under appreciated singer-just listen here to his "Ride On Vaquero" to fully appreciate his fine talent.

 OVERLAND MAIL ROBBERY (1943 Republic)
It's action packed B-westerns like this that put the Wild in Bill Elliott who, as a Texas Ranger, switches identities with Boston-come-west stageline owner, Kirk Alyn, who's not wise to the ways of the west. They, along with Gabby Hayes and Anne Jeffreys, have their hands full with a family of stage bandit killers headed up by Alice Fleming, her two sons, dog heavy Roy Barcroft and banker Weldon Heyburn (whose bickering bad guy dialogue really brightens up this film) and cousin Nancy Gay, a devious femme fatale. Watch for Maxine Doyle (director Bill Witney's wife) in a small role. Written by Bob Williams. Directed by John English. This is Republic at its prime!

 RIDE, RYDER, RIDE (1949 Eagle Lion)
Red Ryder (Jim Bannon) is pitted in a gun duel with crooked saloon owner Frenchy Beaumont (Edwin Max). Jim Bannon and this group of four Cinecolor B's were closer in looks and concept to Fred Harman's RED RYDER comic strip than any of the Republic versions (Elliott, Lane and certainly Barry). Bannon wanted the part so badly, he dyed his hair red to impress the producer, Jerry Thomas, and instantly got the role. Expert rider Don Kay 'Little Brown Jug' Reynolds was Little Beaver, onetime silent actress Marin Sais was perfect as Auntie Duchess and Emmett Lynn was a hoot as Buckskin. The Cinecolor added greatly to the productions ... after all, this was 'Red' Ryder - the color was nearly essential. Strip creator Fred Harman was consulted in order to keep the wardrobe for all the characters akin to the strip, something Republic had never really bothered with. The pictures looked good and were well received, but after four, the father-son producing team of Harry and Jerry Thomas threw in the towel. According to Jim, "The real fly in the sugar bowl was Jack Schwartz, the clod who was Harry Thomas' partner (moneyman). Schwartz insisted on making (non-western) features with stars that were over the hill or didn't have enough box office appeal to get up the hill in the first place. Harry was faced with the back-breaking chore of going on the road to try to book these turkeys. About the only way he could manage to get exhibitors to take them was to agree to let them have the Ryders at a reduced rate. The result was that the company was just barely getting the production cost back on our Red Ryder series." After four films, the Thomas' called it quits. Bannon went on to do an unsold RED RYDER TV pilot (for another outfit), co-starred with Whip Wilson in five of his Monograms, starred on the Gene Autry produced CHAMPION TV series ('55-'56) and guested on dozens of TV westerns as well as hooking up for a lengthy run on the NBC soap opera HAWKINS FALLS ('50-'55).

 OUTLAW JUSTICE (1932 Majestic)
Outlaw Panamint Jack Hoxie and his wonder horse Dynamite, who single hoofedly steals the show, save the ranch for Dorothy Gulliver and her wayward brother from a saloon slicker and his gang headed up by a fairly thin Charlie King. Jack Kirk and his boys sing a song or two. Hoxie's series of six for Majestic marked the end of a screen career that began in 1910, hitting a high from 1923-1927 when he was one of Universal's top range riders. Following a 'difference of opinion' with Universal head Carl Laemmle over a new contract, Hoxie reportedly tore up the document and walked out. He immediately signed to do a silent serial at Mascot but was otherwise off the screen touring with circuses til producer Henry Goldstone signed him for 6 at Majestic. Majestic's non-western product had a polished look, far better than most independents of the time, but the big, beefy, awkward, semi-illiterate Hoxie represented an antiquated form of screen presence. Time had passed him by. Oliver Drake's scripts didn't help, often making Jack appear as a country bumpkin. (No wonder GOLD, the only one not written by Drake, is Jack's best.) After the six (far from) Majestics, Jack left the screen behind, trading on past glories on the sawdust trail til 1959 when he settled down as rancher in Oklahoma. Trivia: Dynamite, the horse Jack used in talkies, is actually Scout, his silent screen horse using an alias.

 LONE RIDER AND THE BANDIT (1942 PRC)
In 1853, Joaquin Murrieta, who terrorized the Mother Lode region of California, was reportedly killed. But now there's reason to believe Murrieta rides again as a new wave of robberies plagues the miners of Big Horn. Sheriff Dennis Moore sends for George Houston, the Lone Rider, to help out. Shades of Don Diego/Zorro, George portrays a foppish wimp musician to throw the outlaws (Glenn Strange, Jack Ingram, Carl Sepulveda) off guard while he impersonates Murrieta. Dennis Moore looks dapper, fit and trim. A good actor, it's a shame he stayed second banana to others like Houston, Wakely, Rough Riders, etc. He should have been a first stringer - but as close as he came was as a member of the Range Busters in their last four titles and in a few serials like RAIDERS OF GHOST CITY, PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES, PERILS OF THE WILDERNESS and BLAZING THE OVERLAND TRAIL. Former Tex Ritter sidekick Slim Andrews has a brief comedy bit with Fuzzy St. John and Eddie Dean has a bit as a scruffy miner in the bar admiring George Houston's singing voice. Dean would do better himself within a few years. The soundtrack on this particular Lone Rider sounds even worse than the usual inferior PRC track.

 NIGHT RIDERS (1939 Republic)
To oppose the forged Spanish land grants of phony Don Luis de Serrano (George Douglas), the 3 Mesquiteers (John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune) become the white hooded, night riding Los Capaqueros. Tom Tyler (later a Mesquiteer himself) is one of Douglas' Army and Kermit Maynard is the Sheriff. This may be the only screen appearance of an actor as President Garfield (Is that Francis Sayles?). Slick, fast hour you'd come to expect from Republic. Remade as ARIZONA TERRORS ('42) with Don Barry. George Sherman directed both, although both are credited to different scripters.

 WINNING OF THE WEST (1953 Columbia)
Ranger Gene Autry has a problem bringing to justice protection outlaws Robert Livingston and Gregg Barton because his kid brother, Richard Crane, is mixed up with them. A year later, Crane became TV's popular ROCKY JONES, SPACE RANGER. With Smiley Burnette as Gene's sidekick and Gail Davis as a newspaper woman. I'm not a Smiley Burnette fan, but he and Gene harmonize brightly on "Fetch Me Down My Trusty 45", written by Burnette.

 GRAND CANYON TRAIL (1948 Republic)
Crooked mining engineer Robert Livingston convinces eastern mine owner Charles Coleman that his silver mine is worthless so he can rip it off for himself. Jane Frazee, Coleman's secretary, doesn't believe and comes west to investigate, telling everyone she's Coleman's daughter. Roy Rogers and his friends (Andy Devine; Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage - their first with Roy) take a hand as they've invested heavily in mining stock. The only one who knows the location of the real mine is ol' Emmett Lynn, but Livingston and his gang (Roy Barcroft, Ken Terrell, Zon Murray) kidnap him and hold him in hiding til he talks. Maybe not one of Roy and director Bill Witney's best, but still far superior to oater fare coming from Monogram, PRC and others in '48. Songs are minimal - only 3 - none memorable. Interesting to see old time Laurel and Hardy comic foil James Finlayson as a sheriff. The English born Finlayson only appeared in three westerns - one every 10 years, '27, '37 and '48. Originally in Trucolor, but only b/w prints seem to survive. Incidentally, not shot on location at the famous Grand Canyon as Republic publicity of the time indicated, but at Red Rock Canyon in northern California.

 CYCLONE PRAIRIE RANGERS (1944 Columbia)
As action packed as they come with 6 wild swinging free-for-alls as Charles Starrett, Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor and their musical pals Jimmie Davis, Jimmy Wakely and his Saddle Pals round up 5th columnists who destroy crops and do everything they can to stop the food supply from west to east and disrupt the war effort. Although loaded with action and good songs, it's somehow formulamatic and mechanically routine as if everyone is just going through the same old maneuvers ... action, song, plot, action, song, plot, yada, yada, yada. Foretelling the future, Starrett's sidekick Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor, has several scenes alone with Jimmy Wakely whom he'd saddle up with in Jimmy's Monogram series come 1947. Foy Willing and Al Sloey (of the Riders of the Purple Sage) do a nice job with Wakely on Gene Autry's "Be Honest With Me". This film was disapproved for showings abroad by the office of censorship because it was a "completely lawless western featuring a gang of cowboy saboteurs led by a Nazi agent". The Office particularly objected to the destruction of food and dairy products and the demolition of machinery and trains.

 PHANTOM STALLION (1954 Republic)
The last 'true' series B-western. And after 24 years (of talkies) it ends with a whimper not a bang as Rex Allen goes up against Carla Balenda who, with ranch foreman Don Haggerty, are rustling horses by blaming a wild horse herd for the thefts. This was the last of 19 starring Bs for Rex at Republic who, by now, in cost cutting measures, had cut the songs from Rex's films, reduced the running times from 67 to 60 and then 54 min. and even replaced ace action director William Witney with Harry Keller for Rex's last two starrers. In 1956, Rex was back at Republic to star in 39 TV episodes of FRONTIER DOCTOR, 37 of them directed by Bill Witney. In 1957 Rex said, "I didn't do any singing in the FRONTIER DOCTOR series, I play it pretty straight, trying to make the doctor warm, humane and respected. Frankly, we've aimed our program at an adult audience. We've kept enough of the old western flavor, however, to keep everyone happy." The series debuted in syndication in June 1956. Rex kept busy with personal appearances at fairs and rodeos, then became 'the voice' for Walt Disney productions. He had several hit records for Decca and Mercury ("Crying In the Chapel", "Don't Go Near The Indians" - which he didn't like and almost didn't record). In the '60s, his voice became well known as a commercial spokesman for Purina, Tony Lama Boots and others. Rex died of a heart attack Dec. 17, 1999, in Tucson, AZ.

 DEAD MAN'S GOLD (1948 Western Adventure)
First of Lash LaRue's films for Ron Ormond's Western Adventure Pictures, following his highly successful series at PRC as Cheyenne Davis, finds he and Fuzzy St. John riding into Gold Valley to help an old friend's niece. And with sidekick Fuzzy's nose itching, plenty of trouble is just around the corner from John Cason, Terry Frost, Pierce Lyden and bossman Lane Bradford. Bradford was badman John Merton's son. His brother is minor player Bob LaVarre (the actual family name). Lash pops his bullwhip five times! 'Old timer' Cliff Taylor, seen in at least 9 of LaRue's last 12 films (and on LaRue's LASH OF THE WEST TV series) was June Carr Ormond's (wife of producer Ron Ormond) father. Taylor once ran Coffee Cliff's, a popular Broadway nightspot where gangster Jack 'Legs' Diamond and other nefarious luminaries congregated after-hours. The on-screen prologue mentions "legendary lawmen Wild Bill Hickok and Wyatt Erpt" (!?!) Was this on purpose or ?

 RENEGADES OF THE WEST (1932 RKO)
All the excitement - a wild fistfight melee and wagon chase - comes at the end of this otherwise quite odd Tom Keene B-western. The first 45 minutes is filled with a baby contest, a stuttering doctor (Roscoe Ates), a drink/stealing barfly, singing rustlers, light romance with Betty Furness and a humorous and growing friendship and respect between Tom and rustler Rockcliffe Fellowes. This was screenwriter Casey Robinson's only directorial effort ... no wonder. The result is dismal. Robinson went on to write CAPTAIN BLOOD, DARK VICTORY, KINGS ROW, NOW, VOYAGER and even contributed greatly (uncredited) to the love story of CASABLANCA. Good writer, bad director. The executive producer of the Keenes at this time (for five films) was famous producer David O. Selznick (GONE WITH THE WIND). Watch for John Ford regular Jack Pennick as one of the rustlers. Harry Carey had starred in a silent version of this story based on Frank Richardson's short story, THE MIRACLE BABY.

 LAWLESS VALLEY (1932 Kent)
Cattlemen's Association lawman Lane Chandler rides into lawless valley to bring back El Lobo (J. P. McGowan) only to discover the outlaw is (surprise!) his father. LIGHTNING TRIGGERS ('35) with Reb Russell (reviewed earlier) is a remake of this lame, unimaginative directorial job from J. P. McGowan. They really said it in this movie - "We'll head 'em off at the pass."

 CLEARING THE RANGE (1931 Allied)
Hooper Atchley kills his banker partner Edward Hearn when Hearn discovers Atchley is an embezzler. When Hearn's brother, Hoot Gibson, returns to town, most everyone, including his old girl Sally Eilers (Hoot's real life wife), see him as a real wimp, but by night he rides as the black clad El Capitan to bring the killer to justice and help neighboring ranchers who are being driven off their land by the swindling Atchley. Good location work at Vasquez Rocks. After Hoot's departure from Universal, this was the first of eleven he made for M. H. Hoffman's Allied Pictures. Hoffman had known Hoot during his starring days at Universal where Max was general manager. He formed Allied in '31 on the basis of having signed Hoot who'd been released from his Universal contract. Hoffman produced 22 films for Allied through '34, half of them starring Hoot, of which CLEARING THE RANGE was the first. Hoffman used the profits from Hoot's oaters to finance his real interest, the filming of famous literary properties such as VANITY FAIR and UNHOLY LOVE from 'Madame Bovary'.

 DAKOTA LIL (1950 20th Century Fox)
After all his heroic years, it's hard to visualize Rod Cameron as a murderous bandit (he viciously strangles a train guard in the first scene), but bad he is which brings Secret Service agent George Montgomery to Mexico to work his way undercover with counterfeiter Dakota Lil (Marie Windsor) and her accomplice, Cameron as Kid Curry of the Hole In the Wall Gang, who is partners with Butch Cassidy (Walter Sande). This film actually contains the line, "What's a smart girl like you doing in a broken down Cantina like this?" (Veteran Maurice Geraghty wrote that!) Although Marie says Marni Nixon dubbed her singing, UCLA records indicate Anita Ellis was hired for the job. Nixon, a popular 'dubber of stars' singing voices, dubbed Natalie Wood in WEST SIDE STORY among others, while jazz singer Ellis dubbed Rita Hayworth in GILDA (and others) and Vera Ellen in THREE LITTLE WORDS. Look for one time star Jack Perrin in a small role.

 OVERLAND TRAILS (1948 Monogram)
Johnny Mack Brown dusts off the old Bob Steele plot as he (and pal Raymond Hatton) go after his father's killer. Bill Kennedy and his mob (Pierce Lyden, Holly Bane, Bob Woodward, Boyd Stockman) partnership and grubstake miners, then, if they strike it rich, the gang bumps them off and takes over their full claim 'legally'. A notch above the average Brown from this time period, with several striking plot twists and fine built-in suspense from director Lambert Hillyer. Good support from Virginia Belmont, Virginia Carroll, Steve Darrell and Ted Adams. The script (by prolific Jess Bowers aka Adele Buffington) with its multiple plot elements (which involves a suicide, highly unusual for a B-western) stretch beyond B confines giving me the idea the story might have been intended for one of those bigger budgeted Monogram/Allied Artists B+ westerns of the period.

 CAVALRY (1936 Republic)
Union Cavalry officer Bob Steele, fresh from the Civil War, heads west under special orders from President Lincoln to protect a new telegraph line being installed to stop a plot by former Confederates (Hal Price, Karl Hackett, Ed Cassidy and real life Steele pal Perry Murdock) to form an independent country. The girl is petite Frances Grant. Watch for silent star William Desmond as a Cavalry officer. Whale of a bar room brawl between Bob and Karl Hackett. I don't know where Bob got that floppy, wide brimmed hat, but I'm glad he never wore it again. Most of the Indian attack footage is recycled silent stock. Budd Buster has the titular role of Bob's sidekick - but I'd bet a buck it's also Budd portraying President Lincoln in silhouette. Good premise, routinely executed.

 ROCKIN' IN THE ROCKIES (1945 Columbia)
One of Pat Buttram's classic lines was, "More fun than being on location with Mary Beth Hughes." Interpret that as you will, ROCKIN' IN THE ROCKIES with the 3 Stooges, Hoosier Hot Shots and Mary Beth Hughes is a barrel of fun. Oddly, it's the only time Columbia allowed the Stooges into one of these modern-west musical romps with the Hot Shots. Along for the ride are former Hoppy sidekick Jay Kirby, Columbia comic regular Vernon Dent, western vet Forrest Taylor and the Spade Cooley Band (w/Tex Williams). The plots mean very little in these things, other than to hang together a few songs. Just sit back and join the fun.

 PRAIRIE LAW (1940 RKO)
George O'Brien's wit, charm and fists bring justice to rustler Cy Kendall (who butchers cattle) as well as crooked judge Paul Everton trying to move the county seat for political gain. Bright, clever script by Doris Scroeder and Arthur Jones with a fine action windup. Expertly directed, as most of the O'Briens were, by David Howard. Ray Whitley sings the memorable and hum-able "Rocky Road". In the unusual sidekicks category is normally mean as nails Charles 'Slim' Whitaker (1893-1960) as Silent. I reckon RKO, after letting Ray Whitley and Chill Wills have a crack at it, gave ol' Slim the go ahead for a couple - and he's downright good at it. As a heavy, the paunchy Whitaker began in silents as early as 1916 and came up against every cowboy star from Pete Morrison, Bob Custer and William Farnum to Tom Tyler, Gene Autry, Tim Holt, Lash LaRue and, finally, Eddie Dean in 1948. Over 30 years of villainy. The last year of his life was spent as a short order cook in a L.A. cafe.

 RUSTLERS (1949 RKO)
When rustlers (led by Steve Brodie) holding cattle for ransom are paid off with Addison Richards' (and daughter Martha Hyer) marked money, which Chito (Richard Martin) then wins on a roulette wheel in a saloon owned by rustler boss Frank Fenton, it's naturally Tim and Chito who are arrested for being the Salt River Gang. Complicating matters is the fact Sheriff Harry Shannon is the real boss of the rustlers. Lois Andrews (1924-1968) as a dance hall gal-pal of Chito's really has a better role than Hyer. (Lois even gets to ride Tim's horse, Lightning.) However, Hyer was on her way to better things, as she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in SOME CAME RUNNING ('59). One of the favorite ploys of the Holt films was to have Tim cornered or trapped by outlaws with Chito and the posse (ranchers, whatever) racing to the rescue. That device is used quite well here with Tim trapped in a burning building! The picturesque Jack Garner ranch near Idyllwild stands in for Addison Richards' ranch. Tim must have enjoyed this one - he gets to spank the lovely Martha Hyer! Isn't it odd Tim Holt was Dave, Dick, Tim, Kansas etc. but Richard Martin was always Chito Jose Gonzales Bustamonte Rafferty in every film.

 RANGERS RIDE (1948 Monogram)
Marshall Reed's corrupt state police (Pierce Lyden, Bob Woodward, Carol Henry) place the blame for the wave of lawlessness on Jimmy Wakely and his band of ex-Texas Rangers (Dub Taylor, Bud Osborne). Even leading lady Virginia Belmont and Riley Hill, honest state police commissioner Steve Clark's lawyer nephew, find it hard to believe singing cowboy Wakely is innocent when he's framed for the murder of Clark. Good story, decent action but nothing out of the ordinary. Wakely is backed up on his three songs by Arthur Smith and Don Weston. Fact: When the Texas Rangers disbanded, the State Police took their place from 1870-1873. After that stormy three year career marked by graft and corruption, the State Police were disbanded and the Texas Rangers, which still exist today, were reorganized.

 WHIRLWIND RAIDERS (1948 Columbia)
It's 1873 - the Texas Rangers have disbanded only to be replaced by an evil crew known as the State Police (led by Fred Sears and Jack Ingram) who loot and tax the locals into poverty. Enter Charles Starrett as an ex-Texas Ranger and his alter-ego, The Durango Kid, who rides hell for leather over the corrupters until they are abolished. Watch for a spectacular horse to wagon team transfer early on by Jocko Mahoney, doubling for Starrett. Sometime director of this series, Fred Sears, is the main heavy - and he seems just too laid back for this entry. Smiley Burnette's there as usual (this time he's a tinkerer) being pestered by little Don Kay Reynolds and Maudie Prickett. Doye O'Dell's Radio Rangers provide the music, including their hit, "Give Me Texas". All in all-routine, following the traditional Durango format of action, plot, music, comedy, repeat ... Nancy Saunders as the femme interest is completely wasted.

 QUICK TRIGGER LEE (1931 Big 4)
Some of the most lecherous "heh-heh-heh ..." over the top acting ever seen in a poverty row western comes from Lee de Cordova as a banker foreclosing on Richard Carlyle's mine. Carlyle's friend, Quick Trigger Lee (Bob Custer) comes to his aid. At one point, Custer rescues leading lady Caryl Lincoln from a holdup only to find he's ridden smack into the middle of a movie scene. At this point, some of the bit part lines are delivered so badly, I'm sure they were read by real propmen and technicians. Why Custer is called 'Quick Trigger' is beyond me, as he never wears, draws or shoots a gun in the whole picture. Directed by J. P. McGowan with his usual lack of any great ability. Cowboy cancer alert: Bob smokes a cigarette in his first scene.

 TEN WANTED MEN (1955 Columbia)
Battle of the big ranchers in Arizona. Respected and well liked rancher Randolph Scott opposes jerk upstart Richard Boone who has the hots for Mexican girl Donna Martell who is really in love with Scott's nephew, Skip Homeier, who's a bit of an Eastern dude jerk (at first) himself. Out of control in a quest for power, Boone brings a roster of gunmen and outlaws (apparently the title's ten wanted men) to rustle and drive Scott and the small ranchers out of the territory. Leading the gang is vicious Leo Gordon, who eventually usurps Boone's power and must face Scott in the final knockdown drag out. With Dennis Weaver (nicely done as the town sheriff), Lee Van Cleef, Denver Pyle, old timers Reed Howes, Jack Perrin and Franklyn Farnum and stuntman Boyd 'Red' Morgan. Some great action stuff from director Bruce Humberstone, better known for mysteries (several Charlie Chans, DRAGON MURDER CASE, I WAKE UP SCREAMING) and musicals (SUN VALLEY SERENADE, HELLO, FRISCO, HELLO). His only other westerns were LUCKY CISCO KID and FURY AT FURNACE CREEK. Screenwriter Kenneth Gamet was no stranger to sagebrush though, having scripted ADVENTURES IN SILVERADO, CANADIAN PACIFIC, DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA, SAVAGE HORDE, SANTA FE, MAN IN THE SADDLE, A LAWLESS STREET, STRANGER WORE A GUN and others. Obviously, no stranger to a Scott western either.

 TRAIN TO TOMBSTONE (1950 Lippert)
STAGECOACH on a train as a diverse group of passengers head into Indian country. On board are a corset drummer (Wally Vernon), a minister (Bill Kennedy), two federal marshals (Robert Lowery, Claude Stroud), two dance hall gals (Barbara Stanley and Nan Leslie), a doctor (Tom Neal), an invalid girl (Judith Allen) and her mother (Minna Phillips), the conductor (Ed Cassidy) and an 'outlaw' - Don Barry. But then, all things are not as they seem. Film gets pretty claustrophobic on that one train set after a while and the battling Indians - off of rear projection screen - is scandalous. Directed by old timer William Berke who certainly knew how to squeeze $1.32 out of a dollar. Watch for Jack Perrin as a non-speaking passenger.

 WALK TALL (1960 Regal/20th Century Fox)
Army captain Willard Parker must bring to justice psychotic Indian hater/killer Kent Taylor before the Shoshone go on the warpath in retribution for Taylor's senseless massacres. Along the way Joyce Meadows, survivor of an Indian raid, joins the trio's trek ... with Taylor's men (led by Ron Soble) right on their tail. An A-script in a 60 minute B-format. Parker was usually a second lead (RELENTLESS, APACHE DRUMS, VANQUISHED, CALAMITY JANE AND SAM BASS) but finally reached stardom on TV's TALES OF THE TEXAS RANGERS. He parlayed that into leads in several B's like this one (NAKED GUN, LONE TEXAN, YOUNG JESSE JAMES). Produced and directed by Maury Dexter who didn't do enough westerns. Wonderfully photographed in the San Bernadino National Forest in CinemaScope and color by Floyd Crosby who started at the top with HIGH NOON then slowly drifted down to American International horror films.

 DRIFTING WESTWARD (1939 Monogram)
Jack Randall (and his pal Frank Yaconelli) help an old friend of his father's (Julian Rivero) and his daughter (Edna Duran). Rivero's brother (Octavio Giraud) and his men (led by Stanley Blystone) are terrorizing Rivero as they search for a map to the hidden Dutchman mine. Dean Spencer, who would soon become Monte 'Alamo' Rawlins in ADVENTURES OF THE MASKED PHANTOM, is one of Blystone's henchmen. Completely unmemorable with routine direction by Robert Hill except for the scene where Jack is tied up in a cabin with a pack of dynamite about to go off beside him. Rusty the Wonder Horse enters the cabin (at Jack's urging), picks up the fuse-burning dynamite, trots outside and drops it over a cliff. What a horse!

 VANISHING WESTERNER (1950 Republic)
With rampant lawlessness reaching its peak in Broken Bow, Arizona, special gubernatorial appointee Monte Hale is sent to investigate. Undercover, Monte is hired by the gang, led by Roy Barcroft. There are several unique plot twists that we won't give away and spoil the outcome for you in this remake of Kirby Grant's LAWLESS BREED ('46), both written by the skillful Bob Williams. Although an unusual, absorbing plot, it's somehow not right for Monte. Might have worked better as a Rocky Lane title. Also the overuse of 'green sets' in place of outdoor locations, especially during the final shootout in a fake grave yard, is a big detriment. The girl is Aline Towne (1929-1996), a former beauty queen from the Universities of Wisconsin and Iowa. She was Republic's last ditch effort at creating a new 'serial queen', placing her in six of its last serials (including TV's COMMANDO CODY).

 ROVIN' TUMBLEWEEDS (1939 Republic)
"Mr. Autry Goes To Washington" should have been the title, released only a month or so after Frank Capra's James Stewart classic MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON came along from Columbia. Talk about cashing in on an idea! However, director George Sherman was no Capra and Autry no Stewart. After a disastrous flood in Green River, ranchers are forced to abandon their land. Rancher Gene Autry turns radio singer to finance relief efforts and becomes so popular hes elected to congress with a flood control bill as his platform. His bill defeated in Washington, Gene returns home in the midst of a torrential storm helping the ranchers avoid a terrible flood from the raging river which makes everyone aware of the necessity for flood control. One of Gene's early 'environmental' westerns. Gene sings "Back In the Saddle" accompanied by the pure, clear voice of Nora Lou Martin and the Pals of the Golden West. (See BOSS OF HANGTOWN MESA.)

 DEADLINE (1948 Yucca, distributed by Astor)
Ex-Pony Express rider Sunset Carson aids a telegraph construction company owner, Pat Starling, to ward off owlhoots (Pat Gleason, Stephen Keyes, Lee Roberts) who intend to drive her out of business and reroute the telegraph over Gleason's property. Keyes, who had knocked around since the mid-'40s, later made two failed TV pilots as Rick O'Shay based on the popular comic strip. The obnoxious Phil Arnold, who aggravated viewers so well as Zerbo on TV's COWBOY G-MEN, is perfecting his undesirableness here as a medicine show man. A sense of deja vu sweeps over you when DEADLINE begins, as director Drake utilizes Frank Sanucci's Range Busters "Home On the Range" themesong under the credits. An irritating feature of DEADLINE is the endless riding insert shots of Carson and leading lady Pat Starling. An interminable nearly 10 minutes of film is taken up racing over the range! This group of Carson films were like dinosaurs from another era - underfunded, poorly directed by Oliver Drake, badly photographed by James Brown and populated with ample amounts of amateur actors - Al Terry, Joe Hiser, Forest Mathews and some truly awful and purely offkey campfire songs by Joe Hiser. Producer Walt Mattox was a throwback to the '30s era of shabby producers like Flora Douglas, Victor Adamson, Robert J. Horner and William Pizor who made westerns with little more than a once-was-boxoffice-name such as Buffalo Bill Jr., Jack Perrin or Bob Custer to lure in a few patrons. Mattox traded on Sunset's past reputation in much the same manor. His highpoint was probably HARMONY TRAIL, made in '44 and barely released til '47 under the title WHITE STALLION when Eddie Dean had acquired his own series at PRC and leading lady Ruth Roman had gone on to bigger things at Warner Bros. Mattox's good fortune in having cast them early on still does nothing to negate the film's abhorrent quality. His other contributions are the four Sunset Carson films in '48, of which this is one. Save for one even worse independent western, RIO GRANDE, a year later, these spelled the end of the trail for Sunset.

 BANDIT KING OF TEXAS (1949 Republic)
The Bandit King (a very shifty Jim Nolan) and his men (Lane Bradford, Robert Bice) operate a land swindle in Texas until Allan 'Rocky' Lane (helped by town jeweler Eddy Waller) investigates the murder of two of his friends (Danni Nolan, Richard Emory). Intricate plot well woven by Olive Cooper involves a U.S. Marshal (John Hamilton) who plans to buy land for his daughter-in-law (Helene Stanley) and son (Harry Lauter) who is being blackmailed over an old charge by Nolan. Rocky's horse Blackjack takes a more active part than usual as he saves Rocky's life in one scene. James (Jim) Nolan started in the mid '30s (BOY MEETS GIRL, MEN ARE SUCH FOOLS), worked a lot at RKO (DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME, ARIZONA RANGER) then made several at Republic with Lane, Hale and Rogers before becoming a respected character actor clear into the '70s (CHARLIE VARRICK, DIRTY HARRY, AIRPORT). He died in '85 at 69. Helene Stanley, on screen from the '40s, served as the artist's model for Walt Disney's SLEEPING BEAUTY. She also was 69 when she died in '91. This was her only B-western and her only film at Republic. Olive Cooper started writing in the '30s moving into Republic westerns with BORDER LEGION in '40. She wrote several others for Roy Rogers and Gene Autry (including KING OF THE COWBOYS and DOWN MEXICO WAY) and later Lane, Hale and Rex Allen as well as Gene Autry's BIG SOMBRERO at Columbia.

 VIVA CISCO KID (1940 20TH Century Fox)
Whether you're looking at the stunning Sedona locations or the gorgeous Jean Rogers, there's plenty to see in, probably, the best of the six Cesar Romero Cisco Kid B's. As usual, Cisco, in attempting to help a beautiful girl, gets involved with a gang of bandits, of which Rogers' father (Minor Watson) is one. Chris-Pin Martin as Gordito (aka Pancho) is at his funniest in this one, suffering through 'Boss' Stanley Fields' practical jokes. Watch for black comedian Mantan Moreland and western vets LeRoy Mason, Bud Osborne, Francis Ford, Tom London, Hank Worden and Eddy Waller.

 THREE TEXAS STEERS (1939 Republic)
The 3 Mesquiteers (John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Max Terhune) ride to the aid of a girl (Carole Landis) whose circus is being sabotaged by her business manager (Ralph Graves) in order to force her to sell her ranch cheaply as Graves knows the ranch is valuable because the state wants to build a dam on the property. Then, he alone will be able to control water rights. Crash Corrigan plays a dual role - he also appears as a circus gorilla! Throw a comical trotting horse race into the mix and you have one of the more offbeat and entertaining Mesquiteer adventures. Eddie Dean's later to be sidekick, Roscoe Ates, is the Sheriff. This was Terhune's last as a Mesquiteer and Ray Corrigan was only two more in his contract away from departing the series as well. Corrigan, Terhune (w/John King), of course, formed the long running Range Busters a year later at Monogram.

 LAW FOR TOMBSTONE (1937 Universal)
Ranger Buck Jones goes after a gang of Wells Fargo stage bandits (Chuck Morrison, Alexander Cross) in Tombstone. A misfire in that the script builds up the boss, Twin Gun, to be the fastest, meanest hombre in Arizona, but at the end he (Earle Hodgins) runs like a rabbit and the highly anticipated showdown between he and Buck is nowhere to be found. The always easy to look at Muriel Evans proves herself a great screamer in this one. Watch for onetime silent star Bill Patton as an outlaw. In one scene, the new found success of the singing cowboy encroached on someone at Universal's decision to briefly turn Buck Jones into a singing ranger. Since this was a Buck Jones Production, perhaps it was Buck himself. In retrospect, a mistake. Buck appears quite uncomfortable with the whole scene. He needn't have tried to do musical combat with Autry and the others, his action oriented audience didn't want it and his films were still popular enough to withstand the onslaught of singing cowboys ... for a few more years anyway.

 FRONTIERSMEN (1938 Paramount)
Hopalong Cassidy proves himself a true 'Galahad of the West' as he helps an eastern schoolteacher (Evelyn Venable) overcome her doubts while he traps a mystery rustler, Charles A. Hughes as one of Hoppy's weaker-written villains. One of the kinder, gentler, character driven Hoppys making strong points for a good education. Former silent star William Duncan is once again Bar 20 owner Buck Peters and has some of his best scenes in the series. Young Dickie Jones is Peters' hell-raising nephew and is always a delight to watch. At 74 minutes, this is the 5th longest-running title in the Hoppy canon of 66 westerns. BORDERLAND gets top honors at 82 min.

 LAW BEYOND THE RANGE (1935 Columbia)
When a crusading newspaper publisher is killed by crooked politician Guy Usher, he bequeaths his newspaper to Tim McCoy, the son of the town's former sheriff. At the same time, Tim resigns from the Texas Rangers after he helps a falsely accused friend of his, Bob Allen, escape. Tim becomes publisher of the paper and helps the townsfolk (including a 'rustic' Walter Brennan) and the former publisher's daughter, lovely Billie Seward, brace themselves against Usher in the upcoming election for Sheriff. Meanwhile, Allen has tracked down the outlaw who framed him - and it turns out to be Tom London who works for Usher. Watch the way Tim slings his guns in the final shootout; he couldn't hit anything but the floor and ceiling with all that flailing around. He's often guilty of this 'for the movies' exaggerated gunslinging, but it seems even more pronounced here.

 TUMBLEDOWN RANCH IN ARIZONA (1941 Monogram)
Unique and original plot idea. In 1941, Western University of Tucson student John King studies the fourth dimension. He meets Ray Corrigan and together they discover they are the sons of Crash Corrigan and Dusty King of the Range Busters. When he's thrown from a horse at a rodeo and knocked cold, King 'does' go through the 4th dimension back to the old west where Dusty, Crash and Alibi (Max Terhune) get mixed up with crooked politicians. Pity, the exceptional premise only segues into a less then routine B-western with an uneventful windup. Screenwriter Milton Raison just wasn't talented enough to develop his plot beyond the initial concept.

 RAINBOW'S END (1935 First Division)
Hoot Gibson, the son of a stubborn but sincere financier, doesn't see eye to eye with his father. When Hoot and his pal, Charles Hill, wind up out west on John Elliott and daughter June Gale's ranch, Hoot soon becomes foreman, discovering the neighboring ranch belongs to his Dad and Warner Richmond who runs the place and is not only cheating his father but rustling Elliott and Gale's stock as well. Fast, witty script with elements of screwball comedy. This Hooter made me laugh out loud - several times. Much of the credit must go to screenwriter Rollo Lloyd who was primarily a comedic character actor and only wrote a few scripts. As a matter of fact, this is the only western he ever wrote or appeared in. Leading lady June Gale (to whom Hoot was romantically linked for a spell) was one of four Gale sisters - June, Jane, Joan, Jean - who appeared in vaudeville, George White's Scandals and at the Palladium in London. They split up when they went to Hollywood with June forging ahead in westerns with Hoot and Ken Maynard as well as CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND, DEVIL DIAMOND, ONE IN A MILLION and THE JONES FAMILY IN HOLLYWOOD. Sister Jean was Tom Mix's leading lady in THE MIRACLE RIDER serial and Joan was Buck Jones' attraction in OUTLAWED GUNS and Harry Carey's LAST OF THE MOHICANS serial co-star. Jane was the odd lady out. Hoot's pal Charlie Hill was a former minstrel man. He died at 50, only three years after RAINBOW'S END. He's also in Hoot's LUCKY TERROR. Hoot's sister in this title is Ada Ince, a Miss Miami, Miss Florida and Miss United States beauty contest winner. One of her only three other films was with Bill Cody, FRONTIER DAYS. Former silent stars, and friends of Hoot's, Buddy Roosevelt and Fred Gilman have small roles.

 DANGER TRAILS (1935 Beacon)
The best of Big Boy Williams' sextet for Beacon has him coming west to find the father he's never seen (since age 2) only to find him (John Elliott) a notorious outlaw and Big has three outlaw half brothers (Ed Cobb, Wally Wales, Ace Cain). Big falls for Sheriff Steve Clark's daughter (Marjorie Gordon) and not only must make peace with his badman Dad but rescue the girl from his evil half brothers. Distinctive use of terrific Lone Pine locations. By the way, there's a scene where Big and his horse, Sonny, share an intimate moment, the hero really does kiss his horse! Max and Arthur Alexander, immigrant siblings from Germany, formed Beacon Pictures (and later Colony) in the '30s, producing westerns with Big Boy Williams (and Rex Bell and Ken Maynard at Colony). The Alexander brothers first became associated with movies in their native Germany, working for Universal in Frankfurt. Nephews of Universal honcho Carl Laemmle, they migrated to Hollywood with the coming of sound, forming Beacon in '34. The Alexander brothers, even though obviously working in the low budget independent end of B-westerns, somehow managed to give their pictures a bit classier, more professional look ... both the ones at Beacon and Colony (See IDAHO KID next.)

 IDAHO KID (1936 Colony)
A good story well told has Rex Bell, ousted by his father (Earl Dwire) after his wife's death at childbirth, returning home in the middle of an escalating feud between his Dad and the man who raised him (Lafe McKee). Bell is also helping a young kid (Dave Sharpe) go straight. Marion Shilling is Lafe's daughter and Charles King is Dwire's trouble-stirring foreman. The Alexander brothers (See DANGER TRAILS) formed Colony in 1936 (after their Beacon Films folded in '35) to make six B-westerns with Rex Bell who had just wrapped a quartet for Resolute. The Colony pictures were to be distributed on a state's rights basis by First Division but that company was merged with the newly formed Grand National after the first two Bells were released. Grand National released the final four Bells, including IDAHO KID.

 FLAMING LEAD (1939 Colony)
Ken Maynard switches place with alcoholic dude Dave O'Brien, as co-owner of a ranch with lovely Eleanor Stewart who has only ten days to deliver 3,000 horses to the Army or lose her contract. Unbeknownst to her, the Army agent (Tom London), the saloon owner (Walter Long) and her own foreman (Reed Howes) are in league to steal her horses and deprive her of the contract. Both Ken and Tarzan go through their bag of tricks - rope spinning, bowing, counting. Note the plageristic plot similarities to Zane Grey's DRIFT FENCE. Maynard had made two westerns in '37 for producer M. H. Hoffman (BOOTS OF DESTINY, TRAILIN' TROUBLE) which were released by Grand National. When Hoffman died in '38, Max and Arthur Alexander took over production of the last two GN releases, WHIRLWIND HORSEMAN and SIX SHOOTIN' SHERIFF. All money makers, the Alexanders signed Maynard for four more when Grand National folded and released them through their own reactivated (after a two year hiatus) Colony Pictures. This was the first, and probably best, of the four. Maynard was then off theatre screens for nearly three years until the Trail Blazers rode for Monogram in '43.

 KID COURAGEOUS (1935 Supreme)
A lot of who's in whose clothes switcheroos before Bob Steele as the son of eastern mine owner (Lafe McKee) clears up the mysterious disappearance of one of the mine's employees and the highgrading plot of Jack Cowell. Midway, the plot shifts to Cowell's connivance with the Aunt (Vane Calvert) of leading lady Renee Borden (uttering the worst Spanish accent since Pat Carlyle in IRISH GRINGO) to marry then do away with Borden to gain her inheritance. To show you how slow all this is, we get about 5 min. of time wasting Spanish dancers at the 20 min. mark. Borders on the slapstick at times when Bob, in long underwear up over his head, is chased by a posse and encounters a black maid with the expected results. Poorly directed by Bob's father with some very bad performances (some of them sounding like they're read off a cue card) by Jack Cowell, Barney Furey and others. Only some fast action at the end (including a sword fight!) saves this one. An off day for all concerned. Filmed concurrently with WESTERN JUSTICE which may explain some of its shortcomings.

 WESTERN JUSTICE (1935 Supreme)
Julian Rivero is chasing the man who robbed his daughter (a dark haired Renee Borden) and left her dead. Bob Steele is chasing the man (the same one) who robbed a store and left Bob's brother to take the blame. Sheriff Lafe McKee is also chasing the same man. Although none of them are aware of each other's quest for Arthur Loft, they join together and wind up in Mirage City smack dab in the middle of Jack Cowell's water shortage schemes. Bob falls for Cowell's niece (a blonde Renee Borden!). When Bob and his pals thwart Cowell's plans by dynamiting his dam, the water floods the valley-homes, ranches and all! Bob smiles, "The town wanted water, now they're gonna get it." Sure Bob, but ranches being swept away? Is this 'our hero'? In one startling scene, Rivero catches up with Loft and they fight over a knife. A scene later, Loft is found 'skinned alive'. Hear Bob Steele sing "Desert Breeze". I've heard worse. Filmed at the same time as KID COURAGEOUS, but much better.

 LONELY TRAIL (1936 Republic)
Following the Civil War, northern politicians - carpetbaggers (Cy Kendall's crowd) - gain control of a part of Texas where they terrorize citizens with their state police through a tax collection system of legalized murder and oppression. Returning home, former Union officer John Wayne and his partner Jim Toney join Kendall's state police to fight illegalities from within. With Dennis Moore, Ann Rutherford, Bob Kortman, Snowflake, Yakima Canutt. Routine but well handled by director Joe Kane. In the unusual sidekick category is Wayne's lanky, rustic Civil War buddy, Jim Toney, who plays it fairly straight in the vein of Raymond Hatton or Eddy Waller. This was possibly Toney's biggest role although he worked into the '50s, often in uncredited bit parts.

 BADLANDS OF DAKOTA (1941 Universal)
"In 1874 gold was discovered in Dakota Territory and the 7th Cavalry under General Custer was unable to keep out the hordes of white settlers who swarmed into the area. Thus was born the raw town of Deadwood." Rough and ready Deadwood saloon owner Brod Crawford sends his Eastern dude brother, Robert Stack, to bring 'his girl', Ann Rutherford, to him in Deadwood from St. Louis. But on the trip, Bob and Ann fall in love and are married by the time they arrive in Deadwood. Broken hearted, Brod turns to banditry in cahoots with Jack McCall (Lon Chaney Jr.). Through a turn of events, Stack is appointed Marshal to bring peace to the territory. Through all this plot, Universal stirs in historical events - Jack McCall shoots Wild Bill Hickok (Richard Dix, wasted in the small part); Custer (Addison Richards) arrives and heads for the Little Big Horn. Best of all, though, is Frances Farmer who steals the picture as Calamity Jane. Well mounted, fast paced, big budget western fun-cheapened by the typical Universal lowbudget shenanigans of Andy Devine and Fuzzy Knight and the canned, oft heard, Universal music cues. As well, the insertion of Hugh Herbert's broad comedy is completely misplaced. Are we watching a comedy short or a western? Director Alfred E. Green was not 'known for' westerns but had helmed Gene Autry's foray into 20th Century Fox, SHOOTING HIGH, the year before and in 1948 directed the critically acclaimed FOUR FACES WEST with Joel McCrea. Veteran B-director Ray Taylor shot the special location stagecoach sequences in South Dakota.

 ORPHAN OF THE PECOS (1937 Victory)
Tom Tyler, accused of the murder of Jeanne Martel's father (Lafe McKee), brings the real killer (Forrest Taylor) to justice. Martel and Tyler were married at the time this was made. Routine and uninspired. Ted Lorch, who usually played heavies, is a medicine show pitchman with a ventriloquist dummy. At one point, Lorch throws his voice, pretending to be Martel's dead father. Problem is - he's never heard the voice!

 LAST OF THE CLINTONS (1935 Ajax)
What a pure joy to watch an absolute pro like Harry Carey work, even in the low budget string of talkies he made for Ajax and Artclass. Seems Harry's excellent work inspired everyone else in the film to do a better than usual job - Tom London, Earl Dwire, Vic Potel, Slim Whitaker - even director Harry Fraser who wrote a better than average script under his alias Weston Edwards based on a story by Monroe Talbot (another of his many aliases according to my friend Mike Nevins [Films Of Hopalong Cassidy, etc.]). This is a fast, enjoyable hour. Oddly, Harry's pal, Vic Potel, is the Clinton referred to by the title - but nothing is ever made of the fact. Juvenile lead, Del Gordon, is not bad as outlaw Tom London's younger brother, but other than this, and Carey's WILD MUSTANG made the same year for Ajax, nothing was ever heard from him again. Carey made four westerns for Ajax, a company that only survived for a year in the glutted independent market, but all four, produced by William Berke, harkened back to the stark realism of Carey's silent starrers.

 SILENT CONFLICT (1948 United Artists)
The reason this hypnotic Hopalong Cassidy conflict is 'silent' is because you'll be sound asleep before this bore is over.

 GUNFIGHT (1961 Zenith/U.A.)
James Brown, fresh off his successful RIN TIN TIN TV series is an ex-cavalryman who joins brother Gregg Palmer on his ranch only to discover Palmer is head of a gang of rustlers. Disdainfully, Brown leaves to marry Joan Staley while conniving henchman Ron Soble convinces Palmer that Brown turned them in to the sheriff (Walter Coy) before leaving. That sets the stage for the title of this good little '60s B+ western. Jon Locke, who entertains with his banjo at many current film festivals, is one of Palmer's henchies. Co-written by Gerald Drayson Adams (w/Richard Schayer) who wrote some good A material in the '50s - BIG STEAL, DESERT HAWK, FLAMING FEATHER, HIS KIND OF WOMAN, DUEL AT SILVER CREEK, GAMBLER FROM NATCHEZ, CHIEF CRAZY HORSE and GUN BROTHERS ('56) w/ Buster Crabbe, of which GUNFIGHT is a remake. Adams later wrote two of Elvis' films - KISSIN' COUSINS and HARUM SCARUM. Producer Robert E. Kent began as a screenwriter in the late '30s and scripted dozens of B-films (CHARLIE CHAN IN RENO, Gas House Kids, Dick Tracy and several Gildersleeve titles, FALCON'S ADVENTURE, RED STALLION, BRAVE WARRIOR, FORT TI, etc.) before turning to producing in the late '50s, especially westerns in the early '60s, many of which were remakes of earlier westerns such as FRONTIER UPRISING (a remake of KIT CARSON), GAMBLER WORE A GUN (remake of LONE GUN), FIVE GUNS TO TOMBSTONE (remake of GUN BELT), NOOSE FOR A GUNMAN (remake of TOP GUN) etc. Director Edward L. Cahn's first western was LAW AND ORDER w/Walter Huston in 1932. He then strayed from the genre until hooking up with Kent for several in the early '60s.

 WEST TO GLORY (1947 PRC)
Singing cowboy Eddie Dean and trail-kick Roscoe 'Soapy' Ates must thwart three badmen (Gregg Barton, Zon Murray, Jimmy Martin) from stealing a Spanish Don's fabled Lopez diamond. One of Eddie's better B-westerns. One of the most original ideas in the history of B-westerns is a dream sequence in which Roscoe Ates becomes the hero and Eddie is the goofy sidekick. It's a hilarious idea, well executed. The one problem is, Eddie is almost 'too good' at playing the sidekick. Eddie's stuttering partner, Roscoe Ates (1895-1962) as Soapy, was a dopey faced stage and vaudeville comic prior to entering films in 1929. He appeared in CIMARRON in '31 as well as several Tom Keene RKO's and various Republics before saddling up for 15 with Dean from '46-'48. This was heavy Gregg Barton's (1912-2000) first role after discharge from the Tank Corps in WWII where he was awarded a Silver Star for bravery. Eddie and the Sunshine Boys do a great western swing number, "Cry, Cry, Cry", written by Eddie and songwriting partner Hal Blair.

 LAWLESS RIDERS (1935 Columbia)
After a promising start with an exciting runaway stagecoach, this Ken Maynard sags mightily then saves itself with a rousing windup at a hidden valley amongst the Alabama rocks of Lone Pine. To the detriment of this western, Frank Yaconelli sings a pitiful song pitifully ... three times! Worse yet, Ken takes his guitar and proves exactly why Gene Autry is recognized as the first singing cowboy. Even Ken agrees, saying at one point, "a lot of bum singing and playing if you ask me." Badman Harry Woods has the best line as he explains to Hal Taliaferro (in a good role as one of Ken's pals), "Slowness on the draw is the greatest social error of the west." Stuntman Cliff Lyons doubles Maynard as he often did.

 WARLOCK (1959 20TH Century Fox)
A vastly overlooked A-western directed by the late Edward Dmytrk. It was somehow lost in a year of very good westerns - HANGING TREE, GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY, LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL, NO NAME ON THE BULLET, RIDE LONESOME, YELLOWSTONE KELLY and RIO BRAVO. Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn are the town tamers hired to rid Warlock of its outlaw element headed up by Tom Drake, De Forrest Kelley and, at first, Richard Widmark who soon tires of the killing and becomes the town sheriff, oddly pitting him against Fonda and Quinn who firmly believe cleaning up Warlock is solely their responsibility. The result is a tough, lean, violent western full of subplots and subtexts, not the least of which is the overt homosexual attraction towards Fonda by his friend Quinn. The outstanding cast took Dmytrk eight months to assemble. He called it 'the perfect cast' - Dorothy Malone, Richard Arlen, Wallace Ford, Frank Gorshin, Don Barry, Regis Toomey, L. Q. Jones, Ian MacDonald, Walter Coy. Not to be missed.

 OVERLAND TELEGRAPH (1951 RKO)
Tim Holt and Chito (Richard Martin) sign on as gunslingers for telegraph installers Gail Davis and her father Cliff Clark who are being plagued by Hugh Beaumont (the kindly father of TV's LEAVE IT TO BEAVER), ruthless as the saloon owner trying to stop the progress of the telegraph so the Army won't vacate the post. Beaumont's also placing the blame on his supposed 'friend' George Nader, because Beaumont has the hots for Nader's girl, Mari Blanchard. Nader, best known for being Rock Hudson's 'friend', is exceptionally whiney as the supply contractor losing his business because the Army is leaving the area. For whatever reason, Tim doesn't ride his palomino, Lightning, but rather a blaze faced sorrel. Tim is called Tim Holt in this one. Of his 29 postwar films, he was only 'Tim Holt' in eleven of them - including the last eight when RKO had obviously decided that was the best way to go. Dave was the other most used moniker for Tim. He was never Tim Holt in any of his pre-war westerns. Notice the 'gun' Chito keeps popping badman Fred Graham with is a rubber gun - as evidenced by its dull, dark all over color. Stuntman/actor Graham was later film coordinator for the state of Arizona.

 MARSHAL OF AMARILLO (1948 Republic)
A strange story of mystery and murder over $50,000 at a 'haunted' stage stop called Halfway House run by ghoulish night clerk Denver Pyle. Terrific spooky who-done-it twist that still operates within the confines of the Allan 'Rocky' Lane western format. With Trevor Bardette, Ray Barcroft, Mildred Coles. Another good screenplay from prolific Bob Williams.

 PRAIRIE RAIDERS (1947 Columbia)
The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) brings gun law justice to wild mustang rustlers (Hugh Prosser, Ray Bennett, Lane Bradford, John Carson) who are poaching on government land leased by Robert Scott. Scott's girl is Nancy Saunders, looking 'Fine' in a pair of ultra tight blue jeans. Ozie Waters and his Colorado Rangers perform an exceptional pair of tunes. Robert Scott (also star of the Columbia serial BLACK ARROW) later changed his name to Mark Roberts and was seen on many western TVers as well as his own BROTHERS BRANNIGAN syndicated private-eye series.

 TRAIL OF THE HAWK (1935 Affiliated)
The history behind this dreadful film is far more interesting than the film itself. Producer J. D. Kendis turned out the cheapest possible product from the mid '30s to the late '40s under his Jay Dee Kay or Continental Films banner. Kendis is most closely associated with cheap exploitation films such as GUILTY PARENTS, GAMBLING WITH SOULS, SLAVES IN BONDAGE and HOLLYWOOD BURLESQUE. He often re-cut his '30s films for re-release under a new title in the '40s. for instance, TEEN AGE ('43) is a mixture of SLAVES IN BONDAGE and GAMBLING WITH SOULS. It was even reissued as late as 1959 as TEENAGE JUNGLE! THE HAWK, as it was originally known, was, thankfully, his only western. Usually, Kendis employed budget directors such as Elmer Clifton or Sam Newfield, but here he gave a first time directorial break to former film editor Edward Dmytryk. Dmytryk went on to make such film classics as TENDER COMRADE, MURDER, MY SWEET, CAINE MUTINY, BROKEN LANCE and THE CARPETBAGGERS. According to his autobiography, this picture was produced on a $5,000 budget by an 'amateur actress' from Long Beach. He possibly refers to leading lady Betty Jordan. This is her only film. She's passable but star Yancey Lane is as wooden as the ranch fence. (That ranch by the way is named the Triple X - that sure takes on a different connotation today!) Yancey's only other films, billed under Bruce Lane, were SILVERSPURS ('36) w/Buck Jones, TWO FISTED SHERIFF ('37) w/Charles Starrett and COME ON MARINES ('34). In a musical sequence in the bunkhouse, the film comes alive for a couple of minutes as a 7 or 8 year old Dickie Jones does a very lively dance to a bad western tune. In the '40s the film was reissued as TRAIL OF THE HAWK. Somewhere in the late '40s or early '50s, medicine show showman Ramblin' Tommy Scott got hold of the film, re-cut it to include additional footage of him, his wife (Frankie Scott) and others of their troupe, and used it on his road show. Apparently now, according to my friend Bill Russell, this awful 1935 quickie is to be once again resurrected as part of an in-production documentary on the life and career of Tommy Scott. Meanwhile, classic westerns such as ALBUQUERQUE with Randolph Scott go unseen! Go figger.

 SCARLET BRAND (1932 Big 4)
Bob Custer, mistaken for a rustler, is branded by cattlemen. Rescued by lanky Nelson McDowell, they set out to find the real rustlers but they too make a mistake and suspect honest rancher Frank Ball and his daughter Betty Mack when the real rustlers are Robert Walker and his boys. Starts off well for about 15 min. then bogs down midway with dull talk and facial pondering. Then in the end, it's actually McDowell that saves their bacon rather than Custer. Most viewers remember SUNDOWN RIDER ('33) w/Buck Jones and BRAND OF THE OUTLAWS ('36) w/Bob Steele, but this is the precursor 'branding the hero' B-western. Probably forgotten because of low distribution from Big 4 and the fact it's not as well done as the Jones or Steele films. Custer was at his prime in silents of the middle '20s and by the time sound rolled around he, like mid-range silent heroes, wound up in poverty row cheapies. Good chance to see what prolific William Nolte looks like. He plays Lefty and, save for a couple of other acting jobs, this was his only appearance in front of a camera. In Nolte's career, he was associated with well over 100 B-westerns as writer, assistant director or production manager.

 GOLDEN TRAIL (1940 Monogram)
The miners of Boom Town are being menaced by a murderous gang of claimjumpers known as the 'Ceegaret Gang' because of their practice of leaving the intended victim with a death threat written on cigarette paper. But the gang (Stanley Price, Chuck Morrison, Warner Richmond, Dick Cramer) bites off more than they can chaw when they try to jump the claim of Tex Ritter and Slim Andrews. Plenty of fights, gunplay, thrills, action, all set to Frank Sanucci's always popular music score. One of Ritter's best. Youngster Sugar Dawn, often credited as being in this, is not. Watch for Eddie Dean as one of the Ceegaret Gang.

 LAW OF THE LASH (1947 PRC)
Lash LaRue graduates from Eddie Dean films into his own PRC series here, but director Ray Taylor (who helmed the first fourteen LaRue titles), Lash and sidekick Fuzzy St. John didn't quite get the formula right until the second outing, BORDER FEUD. LAW OF THE LASH is tame and talky. From the second feature on, it was all action and comedy. Incidentally, for his first eight films, all at PRC, Lash was named Cheyenne Davis. He only became 'Lash LaRue' on screen when the series moved to Ron Ormond's Western Adventure Productions. Oddly, Lash actually calls Fuzzy his 'sidekick'. As common a word as it is among western writers and devotees, it's rarely used on film. Couple of casting switches - Charlie King, usually a dog heavy, is the Sheriff and 'Black' Jack O'Shea, usually third or fourth henchie through the door, gets to play boss in this one. Outlaw Ted French (Smitty) is actor Victor French's (LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, etc.) father. Stuntman Henry Wills plays two brief parts. At first he's a shotgun guard who gets gunned and later he's a member of the Sheriff's posse.

 LAST MUSKETEER (1952 Republic)
There's trouble when gun law tyrant James Anderson cuts off the water supply to valley ranchers in order to gain control of the whole valley so he can flood it, build a dam for electric power and charge exorbitant customer rates. A new twist on the age old land grab plot. Leading lady Mary Ellen Kay does a running mount without the aid of a double. She worked five days to get it right for director Bill Witney. Superb camera work and use of Vasquez Rocks. Rex Allen, Mary Ellen and the Republic Rhythm Riders sing a beautiful version of "Aura lee", which later was reworded to become Elvis' "Love Me Tender". This is the Allen film with the much talked about stunt where Rex 'runs over' three horses at a hitch rail to mount KoKo. One of Rex's best.

 OUTLAW EXPRESS (1938 Universal)
It takes 40 minutes of singing and romancing for Bob Baker and sidekick Don Barclay to swing into action against bandits who rob the pony express riders of registered Spanish land grants. There's a gun-blazing finale, but it's not enough to save the film, one of Baker's weakest efforts. Rousing songs by Fleming Allan who wrote material for films with Gene Autry, Sons of the Pioneers, Ray Whitley, Hoosier Hot Shots, Tex Ritter and many more for Baker. Unusual sidekick Don Barclay (1892-1975) came from the Ziegfeld Follies, moving into film in 1936. He's also a saddlepal to Bob Steele in BORDER PHANTOM and THUNDER IN THE DESERT and Tim McCoy in LION'S DEN. He then moved into A-films, well over 75 of them, playing all sorts of bumblers in such fare as BLACK LEGION, HONKY TONK, FALCON'S BROTHER, PITTSBURGH, THIS GUN FOR HIRE and FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN.

 SIX GUN JUSTICE (1935 Spectrum)
One of Bill Cody's better efforts. He's the son of an outlaw who has buried stolen loot. At first, Cody's reluctant to aid Marshal Donald Reed (looking spiffy enough to star in his own series) but eventually aids the wounded Marshal in finding the loot and capturing the rest of the owlhoots led by a nastier than usual Wally Wales. There must have been a shortage of actors as Budd Buster plays two roles! Well written (by Oliver Drake) and directed by Canadian born Robert Hill (1886-1966), no stranger to westerns and serials since silents. When he had a buck or two, Hill turned out some more than competent westerns (with Tom Keene, Tom Tyler, Rex Bell) and serials (BLAKE OF SCOTLAND YARD, FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS). Note - many references cite badmen Roger Williams and Jimmy Aubrey in the cast, but we never spotted them.

 PRAIRIE EXPRESS (1947 Monogram)
Plenty of hard riding thrills as Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton bust a gang of range rats (William Ruhl, Marshall Reed, Ted Adams) who are raiding Virginia Belmont's freight wagons to bankrupt her and grab her ranch. Fingerprinting plays an important part in the story. Watch for Hank Worden as a deputy. Former child star Robert Winkler (1927-1989) (OUR GANG comedies, BLUE MONTANA SKIES, CHEROKEE STRIP, GUN CODE, RIDERS OF PASCO BASIN, etc.) is twenty here and totally wasted and unnecessary as leading lady Virginia Belmont's (another lost lady) younger brother.

 BILLY THE KID'S ROUND-UP (1941 PRC)
Fuzzy Q. Jones For Sheriff! When crusading sheriff Slim Whitaker is killed, it's up Billy the Kid (Buster Crabbe), Jeff (Carleton Young) and Fuzzy to oppose badman Charlie King who's running for sheriff under the guidance of town boss Glenn Strange and his henchies Dennis Moore and Kenne Duncan. Gorgeous gray-eyed Joan Barclay is the crusading lady newspaperwoman.

 ACROSS THE SIERRAS (1941 Columbia)
Hardcase Dick Curtis returns to town after six years in prison to even the score with storekeeper John Dilson and Bill Elliott (as Wild Bill Hickok), the two men who framed him into jail. But 'peaceable man' Elliott has plans to buy a section of land and settle down. Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor is his sillyphone playing sidekick and Richard Fiske (Elliott's partner from his OVERLAND WITH KIT CARSON serial) is Bill's misguided pal. The real twist to this one is that Bill actually falls in love with and plans to marry Luana Walters! However, she requires Bill to hang up his guns first and really become a 'peaceable man'. Can he do it with Curtis pushing him hard? An unusual bittersweet ending for a B-western.

 LAND OF THE SIX GUNS (1940 Monogram)
Jack Randall and Louise Stanley were married when they made this one-and it shows. Unfortunately, they didn't stay that way. They'd been seeing each other for some time when they were married in February '40. They separated in May '40 (just when this film was released) with the divorce being final in February '41. Cattle rustlers (Steve Clark, George Chesebro, Kenne Duncan and former star Jack Perrin) make great use of Bronson Cave, one of the most used locations in the L.A. area for not only B-westerns but sci-fi and action flicks as well. Originally, a quarry for construction of L.A.'s first street car system, the Bronson Canyon area (now part of the 4,000 acre Griffith Park) has been in use since 1919 when Jack Hoxie's silent serial LIGHTNING BRYCE used the canyon while some of the quarry equipment was still in place. Possibly its best known use is as the entrance to the underground city of Murania in Mascot's 1935 PHANTOM EMPIRE serial with Gene Autry. Parts of the SUPERMAN serial, John Wayne's SAGEBRUSH TRAIL, Durango Kid's DESERT VIGILANTE, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, ROBOT MONSTER, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, Hoppy's LEATHER BURNERS, MYSTERY MOUNTAIN serial and hundreds more-even the climax to John Ford's classic THE SEARCHERS lensed at Bronson Canyon. Randall's sidekick, Glenn Strange (!), sings a pretty ballad about "Carol". Former silent 'kid star' Buzz Barton is among the riders in this one.

 FAR FRONTIER (1948 Republic)
The best of the later Roy Rogers westerns were written by Sloan Nibley and directed by William Witney. This is one of them-with a savage, brutal storyline in which vicious gangsters smuggle deported criminals back into the country in huge tin drums. When smugglers Roy Barcroft (disheveled and meaner looking than usual, if that's possible), Lane Bradford and Holly Bane are discovered by border patrolman Clayton Moore (during his year-off salary dispute with the Lone Ranger execs), they cold bloodedly push the men trapped in the barrels off the truck, down a hillside into a reservoir where the drums, and men, sink in the lake. Criminals or not, this is a violent way to die. And in a Roy Rogers picture! The brutal trio also slug Moore and leave him to die in the woods, then report to their boss, Robert Strange. Eventually, Moore wanders back to civilization, dazed and confused, suffering from amnesia. How Roy, Gail Davis, Andy Devine, Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage and Francis Ford (John's older brother) as Moore's dad bring these inhuman killers to justice makes for one of the best of Rogers' late '40s Republics. Part of the plot involves homing pigeons, a sport Roy participated in for years. Originally made in Trucolor, unfortunately, no color prints seem to exist today.

 CAVALCADE OF THE WEST (1936 Diversion)
The old saw about two young brothers, separated after outlaws (led by Earl Dwire) raid their parents wagon, who grow to manhood with one (Hoot Gibson) becoming a pony express rider and the other an outlaw (Rex Lease). Dreary, plodding B that aspires to lofty proportions far beyond the capability of its low budget allotments. Epic just wasn't in Harry Fraser's directorial reach. An Indian attack looks like two or three renegades. A major 'town' is a few ramshackle buildings of the old Brandeis Ranch set. The 'wagon train' stock dissolves into one lonely wagon. Hideous musical score is distracting and inappropriate for the scenes and often just plain annoying. Hoot's 1860 period costume makes him look foolish. The so-called 'comic character' of Windy (Adam Goodman) makes one yearn for the comic 'genius' of Guy Wilkerson or Slim Andrews. It's Goodman's only film-he probably became a dentist!

 ROUND-UP TIME IN TEXAS (1937 Republic)
Gene Autry's strangest western! Gene's brother (Kenny Cooper) wires him from South Africa to bring all the horses he can roundup to help with the diamond mine he's just discovered in the Valley of Superstition. Jive singing black children. Smiley in blackface. Ray Corrigan in his ape suit. A native chieftain in a top hat. Natives in fright wigs. Completely ludicrous! Patrons must have walked out of the theatre scratching their heads, "What was that?" Has to be seen to be believed. It's to Autry's credit that he still had an audience for his next picture after they'd seen this loser. Leading lady Maxine Doyle was Republic director Bill Witney's wife. For the record, Gene kisses her at the end.

 TONTO BASIN OUTLAWS (1941 Monogram)
Set in 1898, the Range Busters (Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, John King and Max Terhune) enlist in the Army during the Spanish American War and are sent (in cowboy clothes) to Wyoming, where Crash 'grew up', to track down rustlers stealing government contract cattle intended to feed troops. Revisiting his youth, we get to see Crash give the ridiculous 'Chipmunk' password - Wahoo! Newspaperwoman Jan Wiley, undercover as a small restaurant owner, individually suspects each of the Busters as a rustler. Better than average part for 'the girl'. Sometimes in their films, the vying-for-the-girl banter between Crash and Dusty seems strained or silly, but this one's handled very naturally, however the whole film's a bit tongue-in-cheek.

 GANGS OF SONORA (1941 Republic)
Call the 3 Mesquiteers! (Bob Livingston, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis) Make Wyoming a state and stop the lawlessness running rampant in the territory instigated by sly Robert Frazer and his toughs - Bud Geary, Buddy Roosevelt and others. (Roosevelt, of course, had been a star of many silent westerns and a handful of low budget B-talkies in the '30s.) Real trouble comes when honest newspaperman William Farnum is gunned down. Old time newspaperwoman Helen MacKellar takes over when she discovers her son Bud McTaggert is acting as a crooked lawyer for Frazer. Homely leading lady June Johnson is the daughter of comedian Chic Johnson of Olsen and Johnson fame. This film is a western character players delight. Watch for Budd Buster, Curley Dresden, Bud Osborne, Jack Kirk, Herman Hack, Jack O'Shea, Wally West, Hal Price, Al Taylor. As good as they come!

 FIGHTING BILL FARGO (1941 Universal)
Fighting Bill Fargo (Johnny Mack Brown) returns to his hometown to run his late father's newspaper - but it's in co-ownership with crooked Earle Hodgins. Crooked politician James Blaine, the in-his-pocket sheriff Kenneth Harlan and gunman Ted Adams run the town so it's up to Johnny, his sister Nell O'Day and photographer Fuzzy Knight to expose their schemes. OK Brown, but the menace is weak and there's nothing to make it rise to the top in his Universal canon of titles. A plus is that Fuzzy Knight does not get to sing! Nell O'Day sings "Happiness Corral" with the Eddie Dean Trio.

 THE FIGHTING TEXAN (1937 Ambassador)
Kermit Maynard rounds up horse thief and murderer Ed Cassidy in a terrific western murder mystery. Exciting riding/chase sequences all over Vasquez Rocks (exactly today as they were in B-western days, about 50 minutes outside of L.A. on Hwy 14), an intelligent script, a stirring score, swift and expert direction (Charles Abbott) and sound camera work (Jack Greenhalgh) with several interesting transitions show what a little care can do with a medium budget B-western. Running gag has Budd Buster looking for 'a little black bear'. Many of Kermit's movies in his Ambassador series were far better made than the average B-western of the day. Interestingly, the competence behind the success of THE FIGHTING TEXAN is obviously cinematographer Greenhalgh, as this is the only film (other than the awful ADVENTURES OF THE MASKED PHANTOM) Abbott ever directed! Meanwhile, Greenhalgh began a very successful 20 year career in 1935 filming Tim McCoy, Johnny Mack Brown and other Kermit Maynard titles. Along the way he lensed many B-westerns with Buster Crabbe, George Houston, Bob Steele and Cisco Kid. Why most of his excellent work is at PRC is a mystery. Look at these well known non-western B-films he added to the success of: REEFER MADNESS, TORTURE SHIP, BEASTS OF BERLIN, Mantan Moreland's all black comedy MR. WASHINGTON GOES TO TOWN, MAD MONSTER, DEAD MEN WALK, FLYING SERPENT, GAS HOUSE KIDS and LOST CONTINENT. He wound up with the low budget cult favorite ROBOT MONSTER. The girl is beautiful Elaine Shepard whose only other western is LAW OF THE RANGER with Bob Allen. (She's also a showgirl in Autry's SINGING VAGABOND.) Signed for a while to RKO, she went on to write two books (one based on her firsthand observations as a war correspondent in Vietnam) and formed a production company intending to bring her books to the screen. Well known for her statement, "The powers that be in Hollywood have a complete lack of faith in the professionalism of women when it comes to movie production."

 POWDER RIVER RUSTLERS (1949 Republic)
"The growth of the railroad meant the end of a turbulent era of violence and bloodshed to El Dorado on the Powder River." In this case, the town's tailor, Shears (Francis McDonald), devises a plot using a fake railroad agent (Douglas Evans) to steal the town's cash accumulated for a railway bridge. Enter Allan 'Rocky' Lane, whose old friend is the real RR agent (Bruce Edwards). Rocky and fib-telling Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller) break up the scheme. Rocky and Roy Barcroft have another of their tough knock-down-drag-outs at the end-in which Barcroft brutally stabs Rocky with scissors in his right arm, forcing Rocky to polish off Roy with only his left arm. Directed by John Ford's nephew, Phil Ford, who helmed many of the Lane titles. Ford, not to be confused with the comedian, acted in his uncle's and father's (Francis Ford) silent films beginning when he was only five.

 BORDER GUNS (1935 Aywon)
Secret serviceman Bill Cody is after Mexican rustlers and the man who killed his brother. There's a bit more of the eternal triangle (Cody - Franklyn Farnum - Janet Morgan) than action in this Robert J. Horner directed ultra cheapie. He was so ashamed, even screenwriter Oliver Drake used a pseudonym (Ollie Milliken) for screen credit. Director Horner had both legs amputated at the hips while still a youngster. He got around on a platform with wheels. He'd sit on that and wheel himself around with his hands. He owned a car equipped so he could drive it with no legs. Owned by Nathan Hirsh, Aywon, the lowest of the lowly, was founded in New York City in 1919 and operated til the mid '30s. The cast saves this one from 'the Can'. Besides Cody and leading lady Janet Morgan (aka Blanche Mehaffey) we have former silent stars Franklyn Farnum, William Desmond, Fred Church, Wally Wales and George Chesebro. The film's pressbook claims the ending has a "novel twist, involving two beautiful girls, a doctor supreme, unchallenged friendship, and a tempo of speed and galloping horses whirling to a sensational unexpected climax". Hmmmm - not the same film we saw!

 RIDERS OF THE SANTA FE (1944 Universal)
Crooked town boss George Douglas (and his henchies Lane Chandler, Earle Hodgins, Dick Alexander) appoints Fuzzy Knight as a figurehead Mayor he can control, but the scheme backfires when Fuzzy brings in famous lawman Rod Cameron as town marshal who quickly hires singing Ray Whitley as his deputy and imposes a no-gun-totin' law. Douglas also seems to control water rights in the town causing lots of trouble for trail herder Eddie Dew and his sister Jennifer Holt (who is really a fifth wheel in this one). Whitley warbles some Oliver Drake and Fleming Allan songs. (Drake also produced.) Eddie Dew also sings, as does - unfortunately - Fuzzy Knight. Budd Buster, who was in God knows how many westerns in the 1930s-'40s, has a nice part. Big action windup as the badguys try to create roast beef on the hoof.

 CYCLONE ON HORSEBACK (1941 RKO)
Dennis Moore and his sister Marjorie Reynolds need the horses Tim Holt, Ray Whitley and Lee 'Lasses' White are bringing in so they can complete the stringing of the telephone wire in the valley. But sneaky Harry Worth has his own plans to be awarded the telephone contract if Moore misses his deadline - and Worth does all he can to see that Moore does. Last ten minutes is solid action. Couple of firsts here - Lee 'Lasses' White (1888-1949), who had played a few parts in westerns prior to this (TRAILIN' WEST, PAINTED STALLION serial, OKLAHOMA RENEGADES), gets his first regular sidekick role as Whopper (replacing Emmett Lynn who was Whopper in the first four Holts. Even before that - Lynn inherited the Whopper moniker from Chill Wills who had used it in the George O'Brien RKOs). Lasses did eight with Holt before joining Jimmy Wakely in 1944 for a series at Monogram. Cliff 'Ukelele Ike' Edwards replaced both Lasses and Ray Whitley in the RKO Holts. Before movies, Texas born Lee White had a 28 year career in blackface minstrel shows, first with Al G. Fields Minstrels then with his own 'Lasses' White All Star Minstrels. The 'Lasses' came from when he'd teamed with Honey Boy Evans on the Fields circuit as Honey and Lasses. This is also Terry Frost's first western - as a badman, naturally. Leading lady Marjorie Reynolds made quite a few westerns and was later William Bendix's TV wife on THE LIFE OF RILEY. Watch for Eddie Dew, star of a few of his own at Republic and Universal, as one of Dennis Moore's linemen.

 LIGHTNING STRIKES WEST (1940 Colony)
It's the end of a long, illustrious trail for Ken Maynard, one of the Top 10 western stars of all time. His biggest stardom came in the '20s in silent westerns for First National. As sound progressed, Ken's popularity began to fade. After a good run at Universal in the early '30s, he fell on hard times in poverty row Bs that slowly became cheaper and cheaper until he reached the nadir for a set of four at Colony, of which this was the last, but not the worst. That distinction goes to DEATH RIDES THE RANGE, second in the group. A brief return to glory three years later co-starring with Hoot Gibson as the Trail Blazers was all that was left for Ken Maynard. Here U.S. Marshal Ken plays a lone hand tracking down escaped convict Michael Vallon and his partner Charlie King. At one point, Ken poses as a hobo and saloon swamper. Good ole 'no-retakes for whatever reason' director Harry Fraser lets a real boo-boo get by. Some off-screen voice can be heard saying, "That's the cue - should have got the other boot, too" when Ken and Robert Terry are tied up in a cabin.

 STREETS OF GHOST TOWN (1950 Columbia)
A hunt for stolen loot hidden in a ghost town by doublecrossing outlaws (Frank Fenton and George Chesebro) brings Charles Starrett (The Durango Kid), Smiley Burnette and Sheriff Stanley Andrews (The Old Ranger of TV's DEATH VALLEY DAYS) to investigate. By telling the story in flashback form it allows stock footage from LANDRUSH ('46) and other Durango titles to be used. But it works - and well, thanks to screenwriter Barry Shipman and director Ray Nazarro (who couldn't remember anybody's name, so it was always "Hey, Mister ..."). With Mary Ellen Kay (in her first western) and Don Reynolds (Little Beaver in the Jim Bannon Red Ryders).

 LONE RIDER IN FRONTIER FURY (1941 PRC)
Eastern girl Hillary Brooke comes west to run the ranch left to her by her murdered father (John Elliott). Framed for the killing is George Houston - The Lone Rider - who brings the real killers (Ted Adams, Karl Hackett, Tom London) to justice. Nice little performance by Virginia Card as Midge, outlaw Hackett's daughter, who sings a duet ("A Love That Ended Too Soon") with George. Brooke became Lou Costello's 'girlfriend' on the Abbott and Costello TV show.

 PHANTOM OF THE RANGE (1936 Victory)
Using one of their men cloaked in a white robe, riding a white horse at night, a gang of thieves (Forrest Taylor, John Elliott, Charlie King) is propagating the myth that the ghost of a miserly rancher is still riding the range. It's rumored the old skinflint kept a treasure hidden somewhere on the ranch, so the crooks hope to scare away Tom Tyler and prospective buyers untill they locate the treasure. Filmed amongst the Alabams in Lone Pine, California. Sam Katzman operated Victory from 1935-1940, turning out two serials and 30 features, 17 of them westerns with Tyler and Tim McCoy. Katzman closed Victory and moved into a production arrangement at Monogram from '40-'47 where he produced East Side Kids, Teenagers and Bela Lugosi films. In 1947 he joined Columbia to produce serials and features, then, surprisingly, in the late '50s became a producer at MGM. Still later, Katzman formed Four Leaf, to make horror and teenage pictures for release by Columbia and AIP.

 COWBOY BLUES (1946 Columbia)
It's the old Gene Autry plot. Ranch handyman (Guy Kibbee) has told his daughter (Jeff Donnell) who's been back east in school, that he's a big ranch owner. Daughter shows up out west unexpectedly with her fiancé (Robert Scott). So the ranch manager (Ken Curtis) and the boys (the Hoosier Hot Shots, Big Boy Williams) make believe Kibbee really owns the ranch. Trouble sets in when the real owner (Al Bridge) pops up. Also with Carolina Cotton, Deuce Spriggens Band. Over a dozen songs. With their mix of music, comedy and a little adventure, this series of Ken Curtis/Hoosier Hot Shots 'westerns' were most certainly an acquired taste. Many fans still refuse to watch them to this day, even though a couple were out and out westerns (OVER THE SANTA FE TRAIL, THAT TEXAS JAMBOREE).

 LAST STAND (1938 Universal)
Director Joseph H. Lewis (1907-2000) turns a routine 'Bob Baker goes undercover as an outlaw to find the rustlers - killers of his father' story into an interesting hour via his always fluid and intriguing camera angles and scene setups. With Fuzzy Knight, Earle Hodgins (misspelled Earl Hudgins in credits), Glenn Strange. Watch for the scene early on where a stagecoach bandit takes an obviously for-real horse spill. Wisely, director Lewis left it in.

 LARAMIE TRAIL (1944 Republic)
Convoluted, confusing and unusual Bob Livingston western murder mystery based on the 1929 novel, MYSTERY AT SPANISH HACIENDA. Mistaken identity, blackmail, impersonation, murder, robbery and lost brothers all tie together neatly, I reckon, if you can follow it all. Republic certainly wasn't aiming at 7-10 year old Saturday matinee kids with this one - they could never follow it. I've seen it three times and I still can't explain all of it! Needs Charlie Chan to come in at the end and lay it all out! Some Livingston fans think it's his best - I don't.

 EMPTY HOLSTERS (1937 Warner Bros.)
The better the villain, the better the hero looks, and Emmett Vogan's murderous, lecherous Ace Cain is one of the nastiest villains in B-western history as he railroads Dick Foran into prison for five years just because they dote on the same girl, Pat Walthall. When Foran is released, look out! Usual heavy Glenn Strange is Dick's sidekick. Strange (1899-1973) was versatile enough that he could get away with this every now and then. Strange wound up his over forty years in primarily western films playing Sam the bartender on TV's GUNSMOKE. Watch for the terrific close-up of silent star Neal Hart as Pete.

 BORROWED TROUBLE (1948 United Artists)
Hopalong Cassidy and Andy Clyde teach school. That's about as exciting as this one gets when a schoolmarm (Anne O'Neal) stirs up trouble between two saloon keepers (John Parrish and Cliff Clark). Eilene Janssen, later of the Rough Ridin' Kids, is one of the school children.

 SADDLE SERENADE (1945 Monogram)
When a staged holdup for the benefit of Nancy Brinkman's dude ranch customers turns into the murder of an undercover Marshal, Jimmy Wakely and his Saddle Pals (Lee 'Lasses' White and John James - replacing Dennis Moore after two films) hit the singing cowboy trail to trap a gang of diamond smugglers headed up by Jack Ingram, Pat Gleason and Claire James from a secret hideout in the dude ranch icehouse. But, hold it-before we swing into action, let's stop and sing nine songs including western favorites "Cool Water" and "Happy Day" by Jimmy and Foy Willing's Riders of the Purple Sage. Produced and directed by Oliver Drake (later to be Jimmy's manager) and written by Frances Kavanaugh. While the ariatic voices of Fred Scott, Dick Foran, George Houston and James Newill were wrong for western music, Jimmy Wakely's blend of easy, relaxed western/swing/pop was just perfect. His B-westerns are often overlooked on the bases of his small stature, but if you give his films a chance, especially the ones with some great music, you'll discover a wonderful singing cowboy. While none of them reach greatness, many of them are action packed with plenty of great music.

 PRAIRIE ROUNDUP (1951 Columbia)
Charles Starrett charged with the murder of the Durango Kid! How could this be, when-well, we can't tell you that, all we can say is Durango and Smiley Burnette help leading lady Mary Castle save her cattle from Santa Fe rustlers Frank Fenton, Don Harvey and Lane Chandler. The Sunshine Boys sing a couple of songs and ... Smiley bests John Cason in a fistfight with no help from Starrett! Especially well directed by Fred Sears with some unusual (for the Durango series) camerawork. As usual, musical director Mischa Bakaleinikoff's music scores are exhilarating and energy charged, an added plus for the '50s Durango Kids (as well as the Autry Columbias).

 MESQUITE BUCKAROO (1939 Metropolitan)
Dirty doings at the rodeo as Charlie King and Carleton Young kidnap rodeo hot-shot Bob Steele to hedge their big money bets. Really made on the cheap with a full 20 minutes of rodeo stock footage midway with some of the silliest looking 'riding inserts' you'll ever see. VARIETY tradepaper once wrote, "No more slipshod westerns were ever ground out than this present series". When Steele next moved to PRC for the Billy the Kid titles, it was a step up ... and that's a bold statement! This was leading lady Carolyn Curtis' first movie. A year later she was Clarissa Curtis for Tex Ritter's PALS OF THE SILVER SAGE (4/40) and Clarene Curtis for Jack Randall's KID FROM SANTA FE (5/40). All the name changes couldn't improve her thespic abilities and she was never heard from again. Steele's partner Bruce Dane sang in three of these bottom of the barrel Steele Metropolitan oaters, as well as Harry S. Webb-owned Metropolitan's non-western PORT OF HATE ('39). It's obvious producer Webb had thoughts about developing Dane into a singing cowboy. With the short Steele series over, Dane only appeared in one other film, Tim Holt's WAGON TRAIN at RKO in 1940. Following that he disappeared. No loss.

 PALS OF THE SILVER SAGE (1940 Monogram)
Tex Ritter and mule riding saddlepal Slim Andrews ('Hi-Ho Josephine') save little Sugar Dawn's ranch from rustlers Glenn Strange and Carleton Young. The action is good but Tex's songs are nursery-rhymeish, probably due to the introduction to the B-western world of youngster Sugar Dawn. Credit producer Edward Finney for that one - however you view the cowgirl Shirley Temple. Finney reportedly used her briefly in Ritter's THE GOLDEN TRAIL, although after viewing that film, we do not find her present. Bob Tansey, who wrote the script for PALS OF THE SILVER SAGE and was production supervisor, obviously noticed Sugar's 'potential' and snapped her up for five of his eight produced Tom Keene B's at Monogram a year later. After that, Sugar vanished into obscurity. The leading lady is Clarrisa Curtis. (See KID FROM SANTA FE, MESQUITE BUCKAROO for more on her unsolved mystery.) Tex Ritter went through sidekicks like Henry VIII went through wives. Fuzzy Knight, Syd Saylor, Hank Worden, Horace Murphy, Snub Pollard, Hal Price, Martin Garralaga, Roscoe Ates - and Slim Andrews, who was one of the longer lasting, along with the team of Murphy/Pollard. Picture was filmed on the bleak Tejon Ranch in Lebec, CA.

 WESTERN CYCLONE (1943 PRC)
Badmen Glenn Strange and Charlie King are making Governor Karl Hackett look, to an investigating senator, like Hackett's in cahoots with outlaws so they can take over the state themselves. Since Billy the Kid (Buster Crabbe) is friendly with the governor, they also frame Billy for the back shooting of Jack Ingram with whom Billy had a brawl in the saloon. For those keeping track of cowboys in drag, Fuzzy St. John dresses up as a lady to fool the unbilled Lou Fulton (see GUN CODE) as a dim witted, stuttering deputy. Leading lady Marjorie Manners is another of those cute gals who came and went in the '40s within a five year period ('42-'47). Manners had leads in five PRC and Monogram westerns and second leads in non-westerns (A NIGHT FOR CRIME, HARVEST MELODY). Where is she today? Incidentally, Karl Hackett is referred to as the 'governor of the state' but New Mexico (where Billy the Kid roamed) wasn't a state til 1907!

 WAGON WHEELS WESTWARD (1945 Republic)
Roy Barcroft and his outlaw band (Dick Curtis, George Chesebro, Tom London, Bud Geary, Kenne Duncan) inhabit a deserted town in order to perpetrate a land fraud on wagon train leader Red Ryder (Bill Elliott) and his friends (The Duchess-Alice Fleming and Jay Kirby, Linda Stirling) leading to plenty of action. "That's what happens when you rile a peaceable man." Elliott has one of the best saloon brawls of the Ryder series with Dick Curtis. Watch as Elliott signs a hotel registry for the Duchess. He writes Martha Wentworth's name! However, in 1945 Alice Fleming was playing the Duchess in Elliott's Red Ryder titles. Martha Wentworth didn't become Auntie Duchess until Allan Lane took over the series a full year later. As a matter of fact, in 1945 Wentworth wasn't even employed by Republic! A no-prize to the first one that puzzles out this anomaly.

 GUNSLINGER (1956 American Releasing Corp.)
It's the old railroad is coming land grab plot with a few twists. Saloon owner Allison Hayes is behind the plot. She hires gunslinger John Ireland to do away with Marshal Beverly Garland (who took over her husband's job when he was gunned down) but Ireland falls for Garland complicating matters. Good cat-fight between Garland and Hayes who Garland says "broke her arm on purpose" during shooting "probably to get off this terrible movie". Great use of Jack Ingram's town location. Watch for B-western star Kermit Maynard as an extra amongst the townspeople.

 DANGER AHEAD (1940 Monogram)
Modern day armored truck bandits (headed by Dick Rich) kill young Dave Sharpe in a gold robbery then are brought to justice by Royal Canadian Mounties Renfrew (James Newill) and Corporal Kelly (Dave O'Brien) abetted by Inspector Guy Usher's amateur criminologist daughter, Dorothea Kent. Oddly, all the Canadian locations mentioned - Coldwater Canyon, Fullerton - are California locales. The history of the eight film Renfrew series, based on the 1936-1940 radio show starring House Jameson, is checkered. The first film, RENFREW OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED (9/37) saw life at Grand National under producer Al Herman, as did the second, ON THE GREAT WHITE TRAIL (7/38), released ten months after the first title. Grand National then went out of business. Phil Krasne picked up the production reins a year and half later (12/39) and released six more Renfrews through Monogram, becoming more modern in nature as the series progressed with the last two involving deadly rays and airplanes. (See SKY BANDITS.) This one's nicely handled by director Ralph Staub who'd helmed a couple of Autrys and a Johnny Mack Brown. He left features in '40 to devote full time to Columbia's SCREEN SNAPSHOTS series. Cinematographer Mack Stengler, who broke into films in the mid '20s, accomplishes some neat overhead view camera work of a fight sequence in a warehouse. Stengler was an asset - he went on to film many movies with Frankie Darro, Bela Lugosi, East Side Kids, Joe Palooka, Teenagers and other Monogram fare. Also the last twelve Hopalong Cassidy titles at United Artists.

 TEXAS PIONEERS (1932 Monogram)
That five gallon hero in a ten gallon hat, Bill Cody, contends not only with a gun running Le Roy Mason (the only decent actor in the film), but, worse yet, with Harry Fraser's talky script and boring direction as well as Faxon Dean's static camera work (mixed in with a horde of silent stock footage of attacking Indians). Pure tedium. With Sheila Mannors, Andy Shuford, Iron Eyes Cody.

 BORDER CABALLERO (1936 Puritan)
Slow going as G-man Ralph Byrd and Tim McCoy are undercover trying to track down a gang of bank robbers (J. Frank Glendon, Ted Adams, John Merton). The bandits frame McCoy (who is working as a sharpshooter in Earle Hodgins' Medicine Show) for the murder of Byrd. Then Tim goes into his Mexican disguise to smoke out the robbers. Too much Earl Hodgins medicine spiel in the first half; too much of Tim's self-indulgence in his Mexican portrayal in the second half. The film's savior is its stellar B-western cast - watch closely, they go by quick: Robert McKenzie, Frank McCarroll, Bill Patton, Slim Whitaker, Jimmy Aubrey, Ben Corbett, Si Jenks, Wally West, Jack Rockwell, Steve Clark, Sherry Tansey, Dick Botiller and others. First part of the film reminds one of John Wayne's PARADISE CANYON a year earlier.

 GOLDTOWN GHOST RIDERS (1953 Columbia)
A complicated somber story with plenty of action and thrills finds rancher Gene Autry being made a circuit judge. He tries a murderer (Kirk Riley) who claims the man he's accused of murdering, fellow swindler Carleton Young, is the same man he just served time in prison for killing ten years ago. One of Gene's best of his later films except for the intrusive presence of Smiley Burnette. With Gail Davis, Denver Pyle, John Doucette.

 WEST OF THE LAW (1942 Monogram)
Outlaw Terror Sweeps Gold Creek! Bandits Steal Gold Shipment! Rustlers wipe out Diamond D Stock! Send in the Rough Riders - Buck Jones, Tim McCoy and Raymond Hatton - to rout out badmen Harry Woods and Roy Barcroft. Now there's a pair to draw to! The last of the eight Rough Riders films sags midway with too much nonsense about coffins and has a bit of a weak wrap-up. An unfitting finale to a beloved series of B-westerns.

 END OF THE TRAIL (1932 Columbia)
Tim McCoy's passionate film dealing with the staggering injustices the red man suffered in the wake of the white man's greed has been called 'exceptional', 'McCoy's masterpiece', 'unforgettable poetry', 'majestic' and 'remarkable'. In my opinion, it is not one of the best B-westerns ever made as some have suggested. I find it, at times, overly preachy when Tim delivers soap-box style lectures on how Indians have been maligned. His father-son relationship with young Wally Albright is never for a minute believable. Add to that, Wade Boteler's constant unfunny approaches to the Indian maidens. These detriments aside, it is certainly acted, directed and photographed with a heart uncommon to B-westerns. McCoy personally persuaded Columbia to spend three times more than what his usual films were costing and take the cast to Lander, Wyoming, to film amongst the Arapaho Indians on the Wind River reservation. The basic plot has Army officer McCoy court-martialed out of the service when he's framed for gunrunning by fellow officer Wheeler Oakman. Ousted, McCoy then loses his son due to an Army bullet. Still espousing peace to the Indians, Tim is again arrested and returned to the fort to face charges of treason. When the Indians attack, Tim agrees to barter a peace to save his Indians from being slaughtered. Waving a white flag of truce, he is shot in the back by a crazed soldier, but not before a critically wounded Oakman has confessed his crimes, exonerating McCoy. Originally, the film was to end with troops playing taps over McCoy's grave, but Columbia hierarchy dismissed this downer ending, feeling Tim's fans would never accept such a tragic ending. It would have been a stronger film if 'the suits' had left it alone. The tacked-on ending reveals Tim, arm in sling, being made the new Indian agent. McCoy is certainly to be congratulated for his attempt in 1932 to make a 'politically correct' western.

 PIONEER MARSHAL (1949 Republic)
Another good Bob Williams script finds undercover marshal Monte Hale in trouble up to his six guns in an outlaw sanctuary run by psychological killer Damian O'Flynn. Good support from Paul Hurst, Roy Barcroft, Nan Leslie, Myron Healey. Although this is soundly into Monte's 'straight action' period, he briefly warbles a song about Dallas to leading lady Nan Leslie. (Leslie died 7/27/00 at 74.) Scripter Williams wrote for Republic from 1943-1951, turning out some of the best Elliott, Lane, Hale and Allen titles. He is not the same person as actor Robert B. Williams who has a bit part in this film.

 GUN CODE (1940 PRC)
Above average Tim McCoy for the period with a high action/excitement quotient as he rallies the townspeople to resist a crooked protective association headed by a mystery 'big boss'. (We won't tell you although you'll probably figure it out right quick.) Something you don't always see in austere Tim McCoy B's - two knock down, drag out fistfights with Carleton Young and George Chesebro. Notice that all the women in town are wearing '40s dresses rather than clothing applicable to 1890. Leading lady Inna Gest (aka Ina Guest) began in Monogram East Side Kids movies and PRC westerns but moved up for a while to small roles in A films (UP IN ARMS, NORTHWEST OUTPOST, NO MINOR VICES), then like others, dropped from sight til her untimely death from hepatitis in 1965 at only 43. 'Lanky', Tim's sidekick for 3 of these 1940 PRC's, is Lou Fulton, half of the team of Oscar (Ed Platt) and Elmer (Fulton) who appeared in DICK TRACY and PAINTED STALLION serials as well as Gene Autry's OLD CORRAL and the 3 Mesquiteers GUNSMOKE RANCH. His last credit is as a mop man in THE LADY IS WILLING (Columbia '42). Did he enter the service and not return from the war or did his career just not continue? Gest's young brother, Jerry, is played by Robert Winkler, one of the kids in several '36-'38 Our Gang comedies. After appearing in about 50 films, including at least ten westerns (BLUE MONTANA SKIES, CHEROKEE STRIP, RIDERS OF PASCO BASIN, WILDCAT OF TUCSON, LONE RIDER RIDES ON, PALS OF THE PECOS, etc.) he quit acting circa 1949, becoming a lawyer. He later represented Spanky McFarland, the Our Gang leader. Winkler died in 1989.

 FLASHING GUNS (1947 Monogram)
Better than usual Johnny Mack Brown script by Frank H. Young as one plot point builds on another. Crooked gamblers/bankers (Douglas Evans, James Logan) try to wrest control of Raymond Hatton's ranch through a fast shuffle of cards and deeds. Riley Hill and Jan Bryant are his children. Young wrote six of the better Brown titles (and one Wakely) in the mid '40s, then disappeared. Quite rare here, perennial sad-faced cowboy extra Ray Jones gets lines to speak as a badman.

 SMOKY TRAILS (1939 Metropolitan)
Bob Steele goes after the rustler killer of his Dad. Now there's an original idea! He trails his man (Carleton Young) to Ted Adams' outlaw stronghold where the crooks are holding Jean Carmen and her father hostage. Bob shows more emotion over the loss of this father (Murdock McQuarrie) than all of his other deceased screen dads. Pretty lame lip sync job by Bruce Dane (who?) on four (!) unnecessary songs. However, one, "Bones", has the neat idea of superimposing skeletons to scare deputy Jimmy Aubrey. Credit no-budget director B. B. Ray with at least trying something to spice things up. Watch for Buzz Barton in an unbilled bit.

 ROAD AGENT (1941 Universal)
With the Universal production team behind this, you'd think it would be good. The promise and premise are there, but, overall, it's just boring. It's a one-off western, actually part of the Dick Foran/Leo Carrillo/Andy Devine action/adventure series Universal was turning out. Although the leading ladies are Anne Gwynne and Anne Nagel, Universal regulars, look for Luana Walters in a small role. Walters frequently co-starred with Bill Elliott at Columbia and was a leading lady also to the Range Busters, Charles Starrett, Don Barry, Tim Holt and the Rough Riders. Remade in 1946 as GUNMAN'S CODE with Kirby Grant, a better version.

 HILLS OF OKLAHOMA (1950 Republic)
Rex Allen's second outing has him forming a cattleman's cooperative and organizing a trail drive to defeat the ruinous prices of crooked packing house owner (Robert Emmett Keane), his son (Robert Karnes) and double crossing ranch owner (Trevor Bardette). Rex introduces his beautiful chestnut stallion KoKo in this picture. Veteran character actress Elizabeth Risdon plays a feisty, independent Tulsa cattle buyer with her secretary played by young ingenue Elisabeth Fraser in her only B-western. After Gordon Jones as a partner in his first, Republic saddled Rex with two old timers, Fuzzy Knight and Roscoe Ates. After one more film, Rex hit his stride with Buddy Ebsen in UNDER MEXICALI STARS.

 TWO FISTED SHERIFF (1937 Columbia)
Far too much talk in and out of court about what they're going to do and not enough doing-it-action as Charles Starrett brings to justice the killer of Barbara Weeks' father when his pal Bruce Lane is blamed. Alan Sears is way over the top in his acting but creates a memorable badman as Laughing Bill Slagg. Bruce Lane was previously Yancey Lane when he starred in TRAIL OF THE HAWK in 1935 (noted as Edward Dmytryk's first directorial work). He was also billed as Yancey in COME ON MARINES and as Bruce in Buck Jones' SILVERSPURS - but that seems to be the extent of his film work. Another lost player.

 MYSTERY RANCH (1934 Reliable)
An innovative, surreal stab at something different in a series western. The opening sequence was filmed silent with Tom Tyler, Jimmy Aubrey and others performing in an exaggerated 'melodrama' style. Dialogue was added in postproduction. If you, at first, are unaware, this scene is only a chapter from western hack writer Tom Tyler's latest dime novel being read aloud, it really takes you aback. Tyler's father (John Elliott) suggests he is grossly misrepresenting the real west, so 'our Tom' accepts an invite to visit Mystery Ranch where owner Roberta Gale will show him how western men really behave. Tom and his secretary (Frank Hall Crane) arrive and are quickly immersed in a series of staged-on-their-behalf lynchings, robberies and feuds. So, when they witness a real holdup, they believe it to be fake. The rest of the film is a cross between a wacky sit-com and a B-western. Credit the original story to J. K. Henry (whom historian Les Adams identifies as cameraman J. Henry Kruse) with a polish from Carl Krusada (who worked on dozens of films for producers Harry Webb and B. B. Ray) and Rose Gordon (Webb's wife). See Charlie King get spanked by Tom Tyler! See Jimmy Aubrey in an over the top tour de force in three or four various roles! See B-western star Jack Perrin billed for some inexplicable reason as Jack Gable! Give producer/director Bernard B. Ray "A" for originality and the desire to try something different within the confines of the B-western format. One can imagine what this film could have been at RKO with a true talent like George O'Brien in the lead. As it is, it's a B-western breath of fun, fresh air.

 MARSHAL OF MESA CITY (1939 RKO)
A superior remake of Richard Dix's THE ARIZONIAN ('35) as town-taming ex-marshal George O'Brien brings his unique light touch to his assuredly best series western. The fine performances of Henry Brandon as O'Brien's gunslinging friend and Leon Ames as the crooked town boss, who has his cap set for Virginia Vale until George intervenes, lift this film far out of the routine. The grim, gun-blazing finale in the dimly-lit street is expertly handled by director David Howard. A true classic of the B-western genre. Watch for Spade Cooley as a fiddler at the dance.

 PARTNERS OF THE SUNSET (1948 Monogram)
Jimmy Wakely and his saddlepartner, Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor, break up a scheme by Christine Larson and her "brother", Leonard Penn, to marry and cheat rancher Steve Darrell out of his holdings. Darrell's son, Jay Kirby, rebels when he meets his new stepmother. Larson and Penn frame Kirby for his father's murder. Four good songs with fiddlin' support from Arthur Smith. Leonard Penn (1907-1975), a veteran of hundreds of westerns, is often mistaken for current actor Sean Penn's father. However, it is actor/director Leo Penn who is Sean's pop. Jay Kirby (often an extremely weak actor as noted by this film) was born Bill George in Denver, CO, 1/28/20. A hunting and fishing guide then a male model while at UCLA; a talent scout picked him for six Hopalong Cassidy pictures in 1942. During service in WWII, he was injured and returned with a plate in his head. Post-war, he worked in nine Republic westerns and serials, ROCKIN' IN THE ROCKIES w/3 Stooges and a couple with Wakely. He co-starred and co-produced (for $25,000) SUNDOWN RIDERS w/Russell Wade. In 1949, for whatever reason, he began using his real name in MASKED RAIDERS with Tim Holt and several TV shows through 1957. A landscape artist when film work was slow, he died in a California-coast car accident 7/30/64.

 BARBED WIRE (1952 Columbia)
Cattle buyer Gene Autry runs into trouble between cattlemen and homesteaders being stirred up by Leonard Penn who is waiting to take advantage of the coming railroad. Well-made western as all of Gene's Columbias were, but nothing new. Could have just as easily been a Rex Allen, Rocky Lane, Johnny Mack Brown 'B'. Clayton Moore has a small role (and a good slug fest with Gene) as one of Penn's henchmen. Gene sings a nice version of "Mexicali Rose" with the Cass County Boys. Watch quickly for a young Stuart Whitman.

 SUNDOWN RIDER (1933 Columbia)
Certainly one of Buck Jones' best westerns has him set up by real rustler Wheeler Oakman then mistakenly branded as a rustler himself by a vengeful posse. The scene is gripping. Any one who saw it in theatres originally, remembers it to this day, referring to the film as "the one where Buck gets branded". Although the brand is never shown, we're aware of its presence in various subtle ways which enhances the suspense as Buck tracks down Oakman. In doing so, he saves Barbara Weeks' oil rich ranch from the clutches of banker Niles Welch and Weeks' foreman Ward Bond. The original story is from the pen of John T. Neville who had his ups (TRADER HORN, NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK) and downs (the Tom Keene Crescent series, the cult favorite DEVIL BAT and Tim McCoy's dismal LION'S DEN). Director Lambert Hillyer also wrote the script. Hillyer brought years of experience to western films, having started with William S. Hart. Hillyer was with Columbia for over ten years, directing (and often scripting) some of the best Jones and Bill Elliott westerns. Watch for Glenn Strange and Jack Kirk singing around the campfire.

 LONE RIDER IN GHOST TOWN (1941 PRC)
A bit more rambling and incoherent than the usual George Houston film as the Lone Rider and Fuzzy St. John stop a huge gang of PRC badmen (led by Frank Hagney, Alden Chase and Reed Howes) from cheating an old miner (Edward Piel) and his daughter (Alaine Brandes) out of a gold mine. Screenwriter Joseph O'Donnell's ending "borrows" elements from Buck Jones' SUNDOWN RIDER which he liked so much he used previously in Kermit Maynard's TRAILS OF THE WILD ('35). Not only George, but Fuzzy sings ("Calico Joe") in this one. Budd Buster, who plays a miner, should have had stock in PRC, he was in nearly every one of their productions. Location work is at Iverson's and adjoining Brandeis Ranch. Brandes soon changed her name and became Rebel Randall (see DEAD OR ALIVE).

 STAGECOACH DAYS (1938 Columbia)
To win government mail contracts, stagecoach lines held annual contests with the line making the best time from point to point being the victor. These contracts meant the difference between financial success and failure. Even though under government supervision, some contestants resorted at times to cunning and violence.such as Harry Woods, Slim Whitaker and Bob Kortman when they go after pretty Eleanor Stewart and cousin Jack Luden's line. More than capable action direction from Joseph Levering, who'd begun directing silents around 1913. Jack Luden's dog, Tuffy, eats meat off a fork, washes his dish, brings Luden his pipe and tobacco, retrieves a rope, ties badguys to a tree, and he even plays the piano! All this serves to cover up the inadequacies of the ineffectual Luden, but makes for a very entertaining B-western. Indie producer Larry Darmour (releasing through Columbia) had previously tried Bob Allen in six ('36-'37). He found Luden no better for the '38 season but finally struck paydirt in '39 with Bill Elliott. One huge continuity lapse occurs during the stagecoach race which starts out with only two competing lines but in stock footage (probably from a Ken Maynard silent) there are three stages in the race.

 OUTLAWS OF CHEROKEE TRAIL (1941 Republic)
Roy Barcroft and his murdering band begin killing all the jurors that valiantly convicted his young brother (John James) and two others. The renegades' hideout is in the Cherokee Strip where Texas Rangers aren't allowed to trespass and arrest them, but the 3 Mesquiteers (Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis) devise a way, disguised as Indians. From start to finish, you want action, this one has it two-fold. Watch for the quick scene where a wild horse is kicking over the traces inside a building. It looks unscripted with cowboys ducking for cover from flying hooves.

 BOSS OF HANGTOWN MESA (1942 Universal)
Leading lady Helen Deverell must run her telegraph to Hangtown by the deadline or lose her government subsidy. Johnny Mack Brown as a special rep for the telegraph company aims to help but the 'Boss' of Hangtown (William Farnum) wants them to fail so he re-routes the line through his own land. Brown is mistaken by the Boss and his gang (Rex Lease, Michael Vallon, Robert Barron) as the notorious Utah Kid (Hugh Prosser) who they'd sent for to help them. Fuzzy Knight's along as usual with those well-worn, familiar Universal light comedic music cues to foretell his unfunny bits. Involved story by producer Oliver Drake with good direction by "Wagon Wheel" Joseph H. Lewis (1907-2000) but somehow lacks the punch to be one of Brown's better Universals - of which there were many. Music by Scotty Harrell and Pals of the Golden West with yodeling by Nora Lou Martin.

 BANDITS OF THE BADLANDS (1945 Republic)
Texas ranger Sunset Carson resigns to track down the badmen who killed his brother (Monte Hale). He and saddlekick, Si Jenks, pretending to be escaped owlhoots, infiltrate the gang (Wade Crosby, John Merton, Jack Ingram, Bob Wilke, Charles Stevens) in their outlaw town where blacksmith Forrest Taylor and his daughter, gun totin' Peggy Stewart, are being held against their will. This western proves it really was said in a movie, badman Fred Graham actually says, "This town ain't big enough to hold the both of us." This is also the historic western where Sunset Carson read a line wrong while filming. After Sunset has stopped a stage and is ready for it to roll again, he says, "Wind them wheels" ('Wind' being pronounced by Carson like air in motion). Director Tommy Carr hollered, "Cut! Sunset, it's 'Wind them wheels!" ('Wind' correctly pronounced here to mean tighten). Sunset says, "Well, damn, its 'wind' in my script."

 THE NEW FRONTIER (1935 Republic)
John Wayne, trying to follow in his father's path as leader of pioneer caravans, becomes a Sheriff when his father is murdered by gambling hall boss Warner Richmond (at his snide best). Wayne enlists the aid of another outlaw leader (Al Bridge) and his gang against Richmond's crowd to clean up the town. That's okay by Bridge, as he has an old score to settle which he does in a wild gun blazing finish amidst a town in flames. Settler's songs are voiced (off screen) by Jack Kirk, Glenn Strange and their friends. Both have bit roles in the film also. Not to be confused with Wayne's 3 Mesquiteers 1939 Republic of the same name.

 TROUBLE IN TEXAS (1937 Grand National)
This slim plotted Tex Ritter about crooked rodeo promoters (Earl Dwire, Charlie King, Yakima Canutt) sports a nice start and a speedy finish but the pacing is stymied midway by about six minutes of rodeo stock footage followed by a Spanish dance with Rita Cansino (later Hayworth). Then, still more rodeo footage and an awful dirge-like ballad by Tex. Director Robert North Bradbury (Bob Steele's pop) must have liked Rita or spotted her star potential as he favored her with lots of close-ups. Tex has one of his many slugfests with Charlie King. Watch for Hank Worden doing a novelty dance.

 LAWLESS COWBOYS (1951 Monogram)
Rodeo events are being fixed in advance so gamblers can bet on a sure thing at terrific odds. The plot idea's been used before (MAN FROM UTAH, TROUBLE IN TEXAS, MESQUITE BUCKAROO, UTAH KID) but this time has a few new wrinkles as ex-ranger Whip Wilson, working for the rodeo association, and rodeo rider Jim Bannon, break up the dirty dealings of Lee Roberts, Marshall Reed, Richard Emory, Richard Avonde and Pierce Lyden. Also with Pamela Duncan, Bruce Edwards, Fuzzy Knight. Whip snaps his lash 3 times.

 OKLAHOMA JUSTICE (1951 Monogram)
Better than average with Johnny Mack Brown masquerading as a lone bandit to infiltrate a gang of bank robbers led by a woman, Barbara Allen as 'Ma'. Bruising good saloon brawl between Johnny Mack and Marshall Reed. All the '50s Monogram regulars are on hand - Kenne Duncan (as the Sheriff!), I. Stanford Jolley, Zon Murray, Richard Avonde, Stanley Price, Lane Bradford, Lyle Talbot, Ed Cassidy, Carl Mathews. Phyllis Coates is the girl in love with an unbilled Bruce Edwards.

 FRONTIERS OF '49 (1939 Columbia)
In 1849 a struggle for control of land in California rages between America and Spain. Into this historical context comes Charlie King's all powerful Lower California Company, an agency commissioned by the U.S. government to administer laws and collect taxes in the region. Charlie's reign of terror and misuse of power by levying exorbitant taxes brings Major John Freeman (Bill Elliott), his scout Kit (Hal Taliaferro aka Wally Wales) and their men to clean up the trouble. Obviously, Columbia didn't want to use real names - Major John Fremont and his scout Kit Carson. In actuality, Fremont's battalion helped quell hostilities between Mexican and American settlers in California in 1847. Also note the famous 'End of the Trail' Indian painting on the wall wasn't done til long after 1849. Still more - at one point Charlie tells his men to "loot the town, Wells Fargo and all." However, Wells Fargo and Co. wasn't formed til 1851. And one thing more - you need to do something about those plaid pants, Charlie!

 RANGER AND THE LADY (1940 Republic)
Good story telling from director Joe Kane in this plot heavy Roy Rogers/Gabby Hayes historical western with Henry Brandon (and Harry Woods) as a corrupt chief of the Texas Rangers imposing an illegal toll on freighters using the Santa Fe Trail. Big action finish. Excellent role for Jacqueline Wells (later Julie Bishop). One distasteful scene has Gabby and his old coot friend (Si Jenks) comparing scalp collections! Surprised Republic let that scene in.

 HUMAN TARGETS (1932 Big 4)
Young Buzz Barton was ranked among the Top 10 cowboy stars of 1928-'29 but, as sound came in, his fortunes fell to starring in poverty row epics such as HUMAN TARGETS and supporting Wally Wales, Jack Perrin (who got Buzz into movies), Rex Bell, Bill Cody, Hoot Gibson, Jack Luden, Bill Elliott and others. He joined the Navy for WWII and took up ranching thereafter. He finally returned to films as a wrangler (including John Wayne's last, THE SHOOTIST). Director J. P. McGowan, no stranger to paltry budgets, does the best he can as Buzz and Francis X. Bushman Jr. (looking like a poor man's Joel McCrea and no doubt hired strictly for his famous father's name) fight the Mud Daubers claim-jumping gang headed by Edmund Cobb. Here's your chance to hear black comic actor Snowflake (Fred Toones) sing in his regular voice rather than doing a Stepin Fetchit imitation. Former silent star Franklyn Farnum has a good role as the Sheriff. By the way, Rin Tin Tin is often listed as being in this film - he is not!

 RENEGADE TRAIL (1939 Paramount)
Hopalong Cassidy and Russell Hayden ride to Cactus Springs to see their old pal, Windy (Gabby Hayes), who is now Sheriff of that community. Once there they meet up with widow Charlotte Wynters and her young son, Sonny Bupp. Also arriving is escaped convict Russell Hopton, Wynter's nasty husband and Bupp's Dad, although Bupp doesn't know it. Hopton joins up with rustlers Roy Barcroft (as mean as they come - he kicks a dog and slaps Bupp in his first scene) and John Merton. Light on action til the end, but full of character development and emotion. Eddie Dean and the King's Men provide two songs.

 ARIZONA DAYS (1937 Grand National)
Entertainer turned Tombstone tax collector Tex Ritter and his pal, Syd Saylor, encounter trouble from Forrest Taylor, Glenn Strange and the boys. Slow going for the first 40 minutes with about 20 minutes devoted to a stage show. Terrible plausibility lapse when, from ambush, Taylor accidentally kills little Tommy Bupp while trying to shoot Tex. But nothing more is ever said about it! Also some of the worst lip synching to songs ever seen in a Ritter film! Eleanor Stewart's the lady. Tommy Bupp was one of the more prolific kid actors in the '30s (along with Dick Jones, Bobby Nelson and others), appearing in nine westerns and 30 or so non-westerns such as SAN FRANCISCO and IT'S A GIFT. His one year younger brother Sonny (see RENEGADE TRAIL) was in only a couple of westerns but worked in other major films like CITIZEN KANE and ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES. Sonny became an executive with the Ford Motor Co., first in Australia, then in the U.S. Tommy Bupp died in Santa Ana, CA, 12/24/83 at 59.

 SINGING COWGIRL (1939 Grand National)
If a singing cowboy could become popular, why not a singing cowgirl series? Grand National gave pretty, blonde Dorothy Page a three film shot (under a production unit called Coronado Pictures headed by George Hirliman) but it just didn't click. You still needed a male (Dave O'Brien here) to handle the action stuff. Additionally, financial troubles had engulfed the young company by 1939. Page sings well, but they only allow her to perform two songs - one of them three times, the very mournful "Prairie Boy", and the other, "Round-Up Your Dreams", twice. Stanley Price's on-screen niece, Dorothy Short, was Dave O'Brien's real life wife. Samuel Diege directed the three Page B's with an eye for speed, but, save for them and KING OF THE SIERRAS (also produced by Hirliman for Grand National), he was never heard from again. Hirliman perfected the process known as Magna Color. He also formed Metropolitan (no relation to the low budget B. B. Ray/Harry Webb company) to make Spanish language versions of his movies. Hirliman had quite an association with westerns. Born in 1901, he was involved in various aspects of the film laboratory business from 1916 until 1927 when he sold his lab to Herbert J. Yates. Hirliman then founded Exhibitor's Screen Service which he sold to National Screen Service in 1933. From '33-'35 he worked as production exec for Yates at Consolidated Film Industries. When Yates masterminded the Republic merger in 1935, Hirliman signed George O'Brien and formed his own production company, securing an RKO release agreement. After four films, DANIEL BOONE, PARK AVENUE LOGGER, WINDJAMMER and HOLLYWOOD COWBOY, Hirliman sold O'Brien's contract to RKO making them authentic RKO efforts. Hirliman then set up Condor Pictures with Max Hoffman, who produced two Ken Maynard releases (BOOTS OF DESTINY, TRAILING TROUBLE) through Grand National in 1937. Hoffman became ill (he died in '38) and sold Maynard's contract to the Alexander brothers. In '37-'38 Hirliman was president of Harry 'Pop' Sherman's company making Hopalong Cassidy westerns at Paramount. In 1943, following the Page films, Hirliman formed the re-releasing company, Film Classics, who bought the theatrical re-issue rights to the Cassidy films in 1946 (except for the first six which had been sold to Sherman Krellberg in '41.)

 RED DESERT (1949 Lippert)
Overlooked little Don Barry gem from his set of six Lippert films, several of them produced by Barry himself. This one was produced by Ron and June Ormond (of Lash LaRue fame) from a script by the talented Dan Ullman with veteran Ford Beebe (McCoy, Starrett, Brown, Wakely) handling the directorial chores. U. S. Marshal Barry tracks down jewel thieves Tom Neal and Jack Holt. There's a terrific barroom scene where Barry humiliates and makes a complete fool of heavy John Cason. Cason carries a grudge and soon Don has to lick him in a more traditional barroom brawl. Stark and unusual in its inspired, effective use by Walter Greene of an organ as the only background music for the lengthy desert trackdown scenes which gives the sequence the eerie, bleak, dry, hot feel needed. For those keeping track of presidents in movies - Joseph Crehan plays President Grant. Narrated in part by Reed Hadley (radio's Red Ryder).

 ARIZONA MANHUNT (1951 Republic)
The Rough Ridin' Kids were Republic's last try at a western series. They made four. Republic envisioned Michael Chapin (Red) and Eilene Janssen (Judy) as junior versions of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Trouble was, Saturday matinee kids wanted adult heroes - Roy, Rocky, Johnny Mack, etc. Kids didn't cotton to seeing other kids their age in heroic action. Same was true in comic books - readers didn't take a particular shine to Capt. America's 'Bucky' or some of the other kid superheroes. Also, since youngsters couldn't really partake in the gunfights and fisticuffs, Republic always had to cast an adult second lead - Hugh O'Brian, Richard Avonde, Danny Morton - and in this one, John Baer (later of TERRY AND THE PIRATES TV fame). Still in all, a nice try at something different by Republic. This entry gives us an 'origin' story for Judy. With Roy Barcroft, Stuart Randall.

 PHANTOM VALLEY (1948 Columbia)
Someone's stirring up a range war between cattlemen and homesteaders. Exactly who is one of the best mystery villains in B-western history. Your suspects are Joel Friedkin, Fred Sears, Mikel Conrad and Robert Filmer. One of the best Charles Starrett/Durango Kid films. Smiley only bothers us once with a song, the other two are from Ozie Waters and his Colorado Rangers who are also in five other Durango Kid B's. The talented Columbia contract player, Virginia Hunter, is the leading lady. Another of those women who quickly came and went; she was around from 1946-1950 in some fifteen films, including three other Durango Kid titles. She left films to become a chief buyer at Bullock's department store in L.A.

 CATTLE TOWN (1952 Warner Bros.)
Perfect example of a singing cowboy B-western with a decent budget at a major studio. The governor's man, Dennis Morgan and his sidekick, George (Joe McDoakes) O'Hanlon, are sent in to quiet trouble between cattlemen and a Texas land baron (Ray Teal). Good support from Amanda Blake, Bob Wilke, Sheb Wooley, Paul Picerni. Watch for a very young Merv Griffin as the Governor's secretary. Cattle stampedes, chases, fistfights, gun battles, bar room brawls. Warners knew how to make exciting westerns (SAN ANTONIO, YOUNGER BROTHERS, the Dick Foran series, many with Randolph Scott, ROCKY MOUNTAIN, DALLAS, ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE, THE LONE RANGER) and continued to turn them out into the TV years with CHEYENNE, SUGARFOOT, MAVERICK etc. CATTLE TOWN is no exception, coming from the pen of western novelist turned screenwriter, Tom Blackburn, who also gave us SHORT GRASS (from his novel Range War), RATON PASS (from his novel), COLT .45, RIDING SHOTGUN, SIERRA PASSAGE, CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA - even Disney's DAVY CROCKETT, KING OF THE WILD FRONTIER.

 INDIAN AGENT (1948 RKO)
Tim Holt and Chito (Richard Martin) throttle the crooked dealings of badman Harry Woods and crooked Indian agent Tom Keene who are stealing government food supplies meant for the Indians so they can sell them to miners further west. This was the last of six films the late Nan Leslie made with Holt. She was never shy about the fact they were an off-screen item as well. A stronger than usual supporting cast (Noah Beery Jr., Claudia Drake, Robert Bray, Iron Eyes Cody, Lee 'Lasses' White) lifts this Holt above even his norm, which was already higher than many other late '40s B's. Sheriff Bud Osborne (1884-1964) had been playing heavies in literally hundreds of B-westerns since 1916. He began to play more Sheriffs and character roles as he grew older in the '50s. His last work was on TV westerns in 1962. A fabulous nearly 50 year career. Filmed entirely, as many Holt's were, at Lone Pine, CA. The Anchor Ranch house at Lone Pine serves as crooked Indian agent Tom Keene's house. What is now called the 'Tim Holt cabin' is Tim's ranch house in this one.

 I KILLED GERONIMO (1950 Eagle Lion)
Not unlikable one-off B-western with plenty of action stock footage (especially from STAGECOACH) to effectively enliven this otherwise routine Indian gun running story. Watch for Tim Holt, John Wayne, Andy Devine in the stock from STAGECOACH. Star Jimmy Ellison (doubled by Johnny Carpenter) has a good fight at the end with Chief Thundercloud, effective as Geronimo. However, in reality, Jimmy Ellison didn't kill Geronimo in that fight - the Indian Chief surrendered in 1886 and was sent into exile in Florida, then Oklahoma, where he sold pictures of himself to tourists. He was on exhibit at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 and died in 1909. So much for movie authenticity. This was leading lady Virginia Herrick's first film. She went on to work with Whip Wilson, Rocky Lane, Johnny Mack Brown, Lash LaRue and TV episodes of COWBOY G-MEN, GENE AUTRY and CISCO KID. After disappearing for years, we located her in Las Vegas, NV, where we interviewed her for Volume II of our upcoming Westerns Women book from McFarland.

 NORTHWEST TRAIL (1945 Action Pictures/Screen Guild)
Bob Steele's a Mountie - in Cinecolor. He helps Joan Woodbury recover $20,000 stolen from her and uncovers an illegal gold smuggling plot. The color and Lake Arrowhead area locations save this otherwise routine affair. With John Litel, Raymond Hatton, Bud Osborne, Charles Middleton and popular English circus trick horseback rider Poodles Hanneford as the comedy relief.

 NAKED GUN (1956 Associated)
Great Cast, a not uninteresting plot (by Jack Lewis) but way to much pointless talk about the Salazar curse, hangings, saloon girls and a mystery killer. With Willard Parker, Mara Corday, Tom Brown, Barton MacLane, Timothy Carey, Veda Ann Borg, Rick Vallin, Morris Ankrum and Chick Chandler (as the story-teller), it should have been better but it's directed with too little movement by former minor B-western star Eddie Dew.

 RED RIVER VALLEY (1936 Republic)
There's plenty of action when Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette become ditch riders for an under construction irrigation system, uncovering a nefarious plot by banker Frank LaRue to sabotage the project (using snarling George Chesebro as his henchman) and secure water rights for himself. Mixing straight action and songs, the mythical world of Autry becomes a bit ludicrous at one point when Gene forces Chesebro at gunpoint to lead the workmen in singing "Red River Valley". All at once they sound like the Hall Johnson Choir! Lensed partly at Laguna Dam on the Colorado River and at Yuma Prison. Later, in 1949, Rex Allen's first western, ARIZONA COWBOY, used many of the plot elements from RED RIVER VALLEY.

 FRONTIER JUSTICE (1935 Diversion)
This Hoot Gibson Walter Futter production is a long way down the budgetary and quality trail from Hoot's peak years at Universal. Hoot had wrapped up a mixed bag of eleven for M. H. Hoffman at Allied (CLEARING THE RANGE, HARD HOMBRE, BOILING POINT, etc.) and costarred in two at RKO (POWDERSMOKE RANGE, LAST OUTLAW). With no other offers forthcoming, he (in retrospect, unwisely) accepted Futter's offer to star in a group of six. Futter turned former writer Robert McGowan loose on this entry as director and he really botches it. It was his only western. No wonder. Noticeably, both Hoot and leading lady Jane Barnes are far better than the material.

 LUMBERJACK (1944 United Artists)
Writer Barry Shipman and director Les Selander turned out plenty of excitement as Hopalong Cassidy, Andy Clyde and Jimmy Rogers must thwart unscrupulous capitalists Douglas Dumbrille and Francis MacDonald who are out to stop pretty Ellen Hall (as Bar 20 owner Buck Peters' [Herbert Rawlinson] daughter) from meeting her timber contract so they can grab the land and railroad contracts. Offers a meaty, villainous role for henchman Hal Taliaferro (earlier Wally Wales). Spectacular loggers-battle windup as Hoppy fights Douglas Dumbrille and sends him to his demise from atop the dam at Cedar Lake. (See CALL OF THE KLONDIKE, next.)

 CALL OF THE KLONDIKE (1950 Monogram)
Mountie Kirby Grant and his dog Chinook solve a Northwoods murder in a mystery mine. A little tamer than some in the series. We get two leading ladies, one bad (Lynne Roberts), one good (Anne Gwynne). Kirby Grant once told me Chinook was a mean dog, loyal only to his trainer. Kirby said Chinook eventually learned to trust him, but not everyone got along with the dog. For Mountie movie fans, unusual is the fact Grant wears his uniform all through the movie whereas, in most of these films, he switches right away to civilian clothes. All ten of the Mountie films in this Monogram series were lensed at gorgeous Cedar Lake, just above Big Bear. Dozens of other westerns were also shot there such as TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD, RIDERS OF THE WHISTLING PINES, RIDERS OF THE NORTHWEST MOUNTED, LUMBERJACK, as well as many episodes of TV's WILD BILL HICKOK, RANGE RIDER, ROY ROGERS etc.

 ROGUE OF THE RANGE (1936 Supreme)
Secret service agent Johnny Mack Brown hires out as a gunman to get the drop on outlaws led by Alden Chase. Good, strong story by writer Earle Snell, but short on hard action. Much better than usual part for 'the girl' - played here by the very talented Lois January, a far above average actress who also worked in '30s westerns with Tim McCoy, Bob Steele, Fred Scott, Reb Russell and Bob Baker. Alden Chase started in films in '33 and was soon in westerns (COWBOY MILLIONAIRE, PRESCOTT KID, UNDER WESTERN STARS etc.) For a short while in the late '30s he used both Alden Chase and Stephen Chase, finally settling on Stephen, which he continued to use (DARING CABALLERO, FRISCO TORNADO, OLD OKLAHOMA PLAINS, RAILS INTO LARAMIE, then TV-LONE RANGER, CISCO KID, ROY ROGERS, RIFLEMAN, BRONCO etc.) til 1965. An often overlooked skillful actor in westerns.

 KID FROM SANTA FE (1940 Monogram)
When Jack Randall, the Santa Fe Kid, gets on the trail of border smugglers, the boss (Tom London) frames him for the murder of another gang member (George Chesebro). What London doesn't count on is the spite of Chesebro's gal pal, Claire Rochelle. Rochelle, who appeared as the good girl in B-westerns with Buck Jones, Bob Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, Fred Scott, Ken Maynard and others, gets a chance to ride, shoot and be the bad girl in this one. The 'good girl' here, Clarene Curtis, is one of the worst 'actresses' we've encountered in B-westerns. No wonder this is her only film. However, a very similar looking blonde named Clarisa Curtis was Tex Ritter's leading lady in PALS OF THE SILVER SAGE, also Monogram 1940. Also her only film! Were these girls sisters - or is it the same gal with a slight name change? Jack's pal is Jimmy Aubrey (1887-1983) who came from the English music halls to enter films here in 1925. For the next 20 years he appeared in over 200 films, mostly westerns. He played outlaws, townsmen, sheriffs-whatever-and no one minded his cockney accent when he spoke. Often his parts were simply bar patrons or members of the posse. He also got to sidekick with Ted Wells in his dreadful PHANTOM COWBOY and in several with Bob Steele at Metropolitan (PINTO CANYON, WILD HORSE VALLEY, SMOKY TRAILS). I met him a year or so before his death when he was living at the Motion Picture Home in California where he was still very spry. The gang's hideout is the oft used Walker Ranch cabin. The original cabin still stands, well preserved at Placerita Canyon County and State Park off Hwy 14 near Newhall, CA.

 WILD HORSE VALLEY (1940 Metropolitan)
When rustlers steal his favorite Arabian stallion, Pirate, Bob Steele goes on the warpath to round up the thieves (Ted Adams, Bud Osborne, George Chesebro) who are using the white stallion as a decoy to corral stolen mares from leading lady Phyllis Adair's ranch and sell them across state lines. Jimmy Aubrey is Bob's saddlepal. (See KID FROM SANTA FE, above.) After the collapse of their Reliable Pictures in '37, producers B. B. Ray and Harry Webb regrouped to form Metropolitan, which only released ten films (eight of them Steele westerns) for '39-'40 before Webb moved the production set up to Monogram to produce Jack Randall westerns and Ray went to PRC to produce there. Harry Webb's brother, Ira, directed this one. He went on to become a well known set decorator at Universal and later PRC. He also wrote several of Lash LaRue's titles for producer Ron Ormond, for whom he served as associate producer as well.

 STAGE TO MESA CITY (1947 PRC)
The fifth of eight westerns Lash LaRue made for PRC following his strong supporting roles in three Eddie Dean Cinecolor titles. Many people forget he was referred to as the Cheyenne Kid or Cheyenne Davis in these, rather than Lash. The Lash moniker didn't come until the Western Adventure/Ron Ormond productions. Say what you want about Lash LaRue, his films moved and delivered the high action and excitement content Saturday matinee audiences craved. A great deal of the credit for that movement must go to director Ray Taylor who helmed all eight PRC's and the first six Ormond productions. He'd been at it since the late '20s, directing westerns with Buck Jones, Tex Ritter, Johnny Mack Brown and others as well as over 45 serials at Republic, Columbia and (mostly) Universal. He started work as an actor and became an assistant director under John Ford. STAGE TO MESA CITY was remade by that other lash-handler, Whip Wilson, in 1951 as STAGE TO BLUE RIVER.

 FORT DODGE STAMPEDE (1951 Republic)
Smart, quick and clever script by Richard Wormser, who'd been writing since the '30s (START CHEERING, BIG STEAL, PLAINSMAN AND THE LADY, TULSA and other Lanes), with fast paced direction from Harry Keller (first an editor at Republic from '43-'50 then a director of many Lane and Rex Allen titles as well as ROSE OF CIMARRON and some Audie Murphy Universals). Allan 'Rocky' Lane is after $30,000 in missing bank robbery money hidden somewhere in the ghost town of Fort Dodge. Seeking the loot also are Roy Barcroft, Trevor Bardette and their gang. This is one of six Lanes made in '51-'52 without regular sidekick Eddy Waller as Nugget Clark. Chubby Johnson fills in as Skeeter Davis.

 HARD HOMBRE (1931 Allied)
Hoot Gibson's films were, well, different. You don't watch Hooter expecting rough riding action. It's his light comedy approach to the genre that enchants. Hoot's best talkie casts him as Peaceful Patton, a non-fighter who eschews gunplay and is dedicated to his Mama (Jessie Arnold). The fun begins when Peaceful is mistaken for the famous owlhoot known as the Hard Hombre. Knowing cattle thief G. Raymond Nye and the Valley ranchers believe him to be the Hard Hombre, Hoot has them buffaloed into sharing grazing rights for his gal-pal boss, Lina Basquette (a very bad actress!). Everything's going A-OK until the real hard hombre shows up. The surprise ending is a pure Hoot Gibson charmer all the way and truly shows why he was one of the most popular screen cowboys of all time. Florence Lawrence, the Vitagraph Girl of early silents, has a minor role as a blonde floozy. Rosa Gore, who plays an old rancher lady, was half of the Crimmons and Gore vaudeville team famous around the turn of the century. Clara Hunt, who plays an Indian girl at Basquette's ranch, was a full blooded Chippewa Indian. HARD HOMBRE was remade by producer M. H. Hoffman in 1937 with Ken Maynard as TRAILIN' TROUBLE, to much less effect.

 TRAILIN' TROUBLE (1937 Grand National)
Ken Maynard's remake of Hoot Gibson's HARD HOMBRE ('31) misses the mark. First of all, Maynard wasn't the brilliant light comedian Hoot was. Besides that, the comedy elements of the original are gone in the script reworking from Graham White. Then, typical Maynard accessories - hard riding, fisticuffs, gunplay - are included (probably at Maynard's insistence) that are detrimental to the comedic punch of the original story. Also, as Ken liked music in his films, he incorporates fiddlin' and harmonica playing. 5' 3", red-haired, blue-eyed Lona Andre (1915-1992) is the leading lady. In 1932 she was selected as one of fifteen Wampas (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) Baby Stars. Therein followed some 35 (mostly B) films (including seven westerns and a serial). Lona (real name Laura Anderson) was once married (for about a week) to actor Edward Norris. Retiring in 1947, she became a successful businesswoman in North Hollywood.

 GREAT MISSOURI RAID (1951 Paramount)
Terrific action sequences in one of the best, most exciting retellings of the Jesse James saga aided by an excellent cast. This Technicolor version makes it a bit more personal as Jesse (Macdonald Carey) and Frank (Wendell Corey) are hounded by former army Major Trowbridge (Ward Bond) who has a blood vendetta against the James brothers for 'murdering' his brother (James Millican). Excellent support from Anne Revere (Mrs. James), Bruce Bennett (Cole Younger), Bill Williams (Jim Younger) and Ellen Drew (Bee James). Also watch for Robert Bray, Steve Pendleton, Guy Wilkerson, Edgar Buchanan, Ethan Laidlaw, Paul Fix, Tom Tyler, Alan Wells, Ray Teal, John Pickard. Great western entertainment.

 GREAT JESSE JAMES RAID (1953 Lippert)
Tawdry producer Bob Lippert Jr. no doubt smelled box office dollars by pairing Tom Neal and Barbara Payton on screen following their tumultuous three way love affair that also involved Franchot Tone. Tone and Neal came to blows over the affections of the flirtatious, loose moraled Payton. It was one of CONFIDENTIAL magazine's biggest scandals. Payton, who had been keeping company with both men, subsequently married Tone, divorced him, then resumed her heated affair with Neal. The film plays more fast and loose than usual with real Jesse James facts having Bob Ford (Jim Bannon) lure an in hiding Jesse James (Willard Parker) out of retirement for a mine theft. Jesse brings along gunslinger Neal and old timer Wallace Ford. The film is a low budget affair in Ansco Color helmed by the untalented Reginald Le Borg. Payton is a saloon girl (who is absolutely pitiable when she sings off key). There's a shameless scene where Neal makes a play for Payton. James Anderson interferes and Neal thrashes him thoroughly, just as he did Tone. Payton even gets to say lines like, "What's one more mistake in a lifetime. I never was one to do things the easy way". It was a sad career end for both Neal and Payton. Neal became a professional gardener, then made headlines again in 1965 when he was convicted of the involuntary manslaughter of his third wife. He served seven years in Chino and died in 1972, eight months after parole, a broken man at only 58. Payton quickly slid to the ultimate depths of booze, drugs and prostitution. She was only 39 when she died in 1967.

 SONORA STAGECOACH (1944 Monogram)
It's action all the way to Sonora as Charlie King's outlaw gang is determined to kill Rocky Camron before 'the toughest lawdogs in the west', the Trail Blazers, are able to escort him safely to Sonora for trial. Seems Rocky has been framed for an express robbery and murder by the gang and will hang them all if he arrives alive for trial. Pretty, former rodeo rider Betty Miles is Rocky's love interest. Watch her make a dangerous leap from a moving stage to a rock. Technically, this was the last of eight very popular Bob Tansey produced Trail Blazers B's that had seen the group go from just Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson to adding Bob Steele in the fourth film and dropping Maynard after the sixth film replacing him with Chief Thundercloud, who seemed extremely happy to be starring but operated like a fifth wheel. Without him, Steele and Gibson continued on, under a completely different production setup, for three more titles at Monogram.

 ARIZONA ROUNDUP (1942 Monogram)
The first five Tom Keene Monograms were pretty good, showing the able directorial work of Robert North Bradbury and Robert Hill. But the more involved with the films Bob Tansey became, the more the quality suffered, until, by ARIZONA ROUNDUP (the 11th one), there was barely a semblance of a movie. On top of his loose continuity, Tansey added Frank Yaconelli as Keene's sidekick - first as a Mexican (Lopez Mendoza), then as a French Canadian (Pierre). Whichever, Yaconelli, a capable character player at times, is way over the top with Keene, resulting in the most unfunny sidekick in B-western history. Here, Yaconelli and Nick Moro engage in an abhorrent 'musical interlude' time filler that makes Smiley Burnette look like Enrico Caruso. Where's the fast forward? Still more-in the era of Shirley Temple and Jane Withers, Republic countered with the precocious Twinkle Watts. Monogram feigned as best they could with junior rider Sugar Dawn and her pony, Chiquita. Another thing ARIZONA ROUNDUP proves is that Tom Seidel was no Actor's Lab graduate. Through it all, happy go lucky Tom Keene grins like a Cheshire cat with a full saucer of milk as he blithely guns down man after man. He's just too doggoned happy about it! And by the by, what the heck is that prominent sign on a town building, 'Zapateria'? Oddly, the one saving grace of ARIZONA ROUNDUP is rodeo rider Hope Blackwood in her film debut - and demise. She was attractive. Somebody should have done something with her.

 RANGE BEYOND THE BLUE (1947 PRC)
Someone's out to bankrupt Helen Mowery's stageline through a series of holdups. Doesn't take much B-western knowledge to figure out it's her uncle, banker Ted Adams. Eddie Dean and his stuttering stringalong, Roscoe (Soapy) Ates, sort it all out. One interesting sequence has Soapy capturing a sneezing hay fever plagued outlaw. But Eddie's scheme to get in with the badmen is highly unbelievable, even for a B-western. Watch for George Turner, star of Republic's SON OF ZORRO serial the same year, as one of dog heavy Bob Duncan's henchmen. Leading lady Helen Mowery in her first western was beautiful and could act. She appeared in three other B-westerns with Charles Starrett and smaller roles in A-films (TAP ROOTS, JOLSON SINGS AGAIN, ALL ABOUT EVE, KNOCK ON ANY DOOR) before disappearing in 1952. Where is she?

 OUTLAW ROUNDUP (1944 PRC)
Texas ranger Dave O'Brien poses as badman Spade Norton to infiltrate an outlaw gang and find where the crook buried his stolen loot. All is going well for Dave and his pals, James Newill and Guy Wilkerson, until the real Spade (Jack Ingram) shows up. The badmen are the usual reliable PRC suspects, I. Stanford Jolley, Budd Buster, Reed Howes, Frank Ellis and Charles King. O'Brien was terrific in the saloon fisticuffs department and he has a couple of good ones here. Three very nice songs written by Aleth Hansen, the prettiest of which, "Someone Is Waiting", is probably the best in the fourteen title O'Brien/Newill series. Hansen was a member of KMPC radio's popular Beverly Hill Billies in the '30s under the assumed moniker of Lem Giles, Horse Doctor. The group was featured in FRONTIER JUSTICE with Hoot Gibson ('35), BIG SHOW with Gene Autry ('36), PARADISE VALLEY with Zandra the dog ('36), TEX RIDES WITH THE BOY SCOUTS with Tex Ritter ('37) and ROLLIN' PLAINS with Tex Ritter ('38). Hansen also wrote songs for the Texas Rangers' GUNS OF THE LAW and GUNSMOKE MESA (both '44). He also appeared on screen with a group in Hopalong Cassidy's LOST CANYON ('42), then as a banjo player in DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA ('49), as a guitar player in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE ('46) and as a musician in Bob Hope's THE PALEFACE ('48). Early in 1965, a $2,000,000 suit filed by four surviving members of the original Beverly Hill Billies, including Hansen, against CBS and others connected with the popular TV series of the same name resulted in a very substantial dollar amount for the plaintiffs as well as contracts for appearances on the TV series. Apparently, this is leading lady Helen Chapman's first film. She's another of those with leads in westerns (also Hoppy's BORROWED TROUBLE) and bits in A-films (O.S.S., MY FAVORITE SPY, SON OF SINBAD) who disappeared after ten years of trying.

 APACHE KID'S ESCAPE (1930 Robert J. Horner)
Robert J. Horner's westerns are the absolute barrel scrapings. He produced 14 rag-tag grade Z westerns with Buffalo Bill Jr., Bill Cody, Ted Wells and Jack Perrin from '30-'35. Don Miller's Hollywood Corral says his "small resources and artistic pretensions were forthrightly nonexistent." Horner was practically a one man show, as in APACHE KID'S ESCAPE with Jack Perrin where he's producer, director and screenwriter. He had begun his low budget productions in the silent days of the '20s with Art Acord, Perrin, Ted Wells and others. Sound didn't help his films a bit. In fact, it may have hurt when you consider some of the stilted, awful dialogue present. This film's one redeeming factor is the opportunity to see and hear silent star Fred Church in his biggest sound role as Perrin's friend. Church, by now 41, was a large, awkward, lumbering man. In a Horner film, it's hard to tell if he could act or not. By 1936 he'd left films to apparently enter real estate. He died in 1983 at 94.

 GUNMAN'S CODE (1946 Universal)
Two old friends (Kirby Grant and Danny Morton) used to ride together and lived straight-by the gunman's code, but now Morton heads up a gang of stage bandits and Grant is a Wells Fargo agent (along with sidekick Fuzzy Knight - who, fortunately, only sings once) hot on his trail. Morton has involved leading lady Jane Adams' brother (Bernard Thomas) in his crooked doings making it difficult for Grant to unravel a complicated William Lively plot which is well handled by director Wallace Fox. In real life, Adams (sometimes billed as Poni Adams) is married to Tom Turnage, former Veterans Administration director under Ronald Reagan. They now live in Rancho Mirage. Danny Morton, once under contract to Universal, was in three serials - ROYAL MOUNTED RIDES AGAIN, SCARLET HORSEMAN and MYSTERIOUS MR. M, fought Roy Rogers in EYES OF TEXAS and was the title figure in Republic's DAKOTA KID with the Rough Ridin' Kids.

 SHERIFF OF CIMARRON (1945 Republic)
Stuntman Yakima Canutt directed one of the best slam-bang action efforts Republic ever released. Sunset Carson, fresh out of jail for a crime he didn't commit, becomes sheriff of outlaw plagued Cimarron. Clearing up the robberies and the frame job on himself leads to his own brother, Riley Hill. Most people remember this as the one where Sunset woos Linda Stirling with a wink and a 'clik-clik' of his tongue. Also with Jack Ingram, Jack Kirk, Bob Wilke, Jack O'Shea, Tom London, George Chesebro and temperate comedy relief from Olin Howlin. Note that Sunset uses a bullwhip to snatch an outlaw off his horse years before it ever occurred to Lash LaRue or Whip Wilson.

 OH! SUSANNA (1951 Republic)
Republic's answer to John Ford's Cavalry epics has wise and popular with troops Capt. Rod Cameron in a dramatic battle with his up-from-the-ranks, war-monger superior, Lt.-Col. Forrest Tucker, to avoid the Sioux Indian wars in the Dakotas. It's gold hungry saloon owner Jim Davis who's stirring up the trouble. There's also a romantic contest between Cameron and Tucker for the affections of Adrian Booth, whose good girl/bad girl role is ill defined. Good build up to the action, which comes mostly at the end. The Trucolor effort is, unfortunately, hampered by Republic's cost cutting penchant for indoor green-sets replacing needed outdoor shots. Wonderful supporting cast: Douglas Kennedy, John Pickard, Charles Stevens, Wally Cassell, William Ching, Marshall Reed, Al Bridge, Jimmy Lydon, and even Gene Roth, George Chesebro and Sarah Padden in small roles.

 STAGE TO BLUE RIVER (1951 Monogram)
John Hart, his cronies (Lane Bradford, Terry Frost, Whitey Hughes) and the mysterious big boss, 'Mr. Blackwell', are out to drive I. Stanford Jolley and his daughter Phyllis Coates' stage line out of business so they can grab the profitable U. S. Mail contract and gold shipments. Is the mystery boss Lyle Talbot, the crippled postmaster, or Pierce Lyden, the lazy sheriff? Whip Wilson, Fuzzy Knight and Lee Roberts break up their crooked plans. Whip snaps his lash 4 times! Joseph Poland wrote it. It's a remake of his STAGE TO MESA CITY ('47) with Lash LaRue.

 (BILLY THE KID IN) LAW AND ORDER (1942 PRC)
Evil Charlie King and his men (John Merton, Kenne Duncan) have worked out a devious marriage swindle which will cheat Aunt Mary (Sarah Padden), the richest woman in the west, out of all her holdings. Her nephew, an Army Lieutenant, is a dead ringer for Billy the Kid (BusterCrabbe), so when Charlie's men kill the Lieut., Billy takes his place to break up Charlie's scheme. Buster's pals Fuzzy St. John and Dave O'Brien help him out. Certainly one of the better conceived plots of the Crabbes, setting it apart from the routine rustlers and stage bandits stories PRC relied on. Scripter Sam Robins began with Hoppy's RANGE WAR in '39, then wrote several of the Johnny Mack Brown Universals as well as BOWERY BLITZKRIEG and MR. WISE GUY East Side Kids films and 1942's THE CORPSE VANISHES w/Bela Lugosi. Robins himself vanished in '42. Director Sherman Scott is simply producer/director/writer Sam Newfield (whose real name was Sam Neufeld) using one of his aliases.

 RIDERS OF THE ROCKIES (1937 Grand National)
Texas Ranger Tex Ritter (and his two pals Horace Murphy and Snub Pollard) go undercover south of the border to capture Earl Dwire's rustlers. Features the meanest of the many Ritter/Charlie King saloon slugfests. Silent comedian Snub Pollard was Ritter's favorite as a youngster, so when he came to pictures he saw to it Pollard had small roles in his films. By this one, #7, Pollard was elevated to co-sidekick (Pee Wee) along with Horace Murphy as either Doc, Stubby or finally, Ananias. The trio lasted for eight films into the first couple of Monogram titles. Tex sings a duet with leading lady Louise Stanley but their voices don't blend well together. In her hair, Stanley sports a silly bow twice as big as her head. Stanley, married at various times to Dennis O'Keefe and Monogram cowboy Jack Randall, left films at age 22 after only five years to become one of the top models in New York. In the '50s she became one of only ten women in the U.S. licensed to race horses on paramutual tracks. At only 66, she died of cancer in 1982.

 WESTBOUND STAGE (1939 Monogram)
Army scout Tex Ritter tracks down trail pirates Reed Howes and his gang (Tom London, Frank Ellis, Chick Hannon) after they plunder an Army wagon train and kill Tex's brother (Kenne Duncan). Solid story by Robert Emmett (Tansey) continues as a stage load of passengers (including leading lady Muriel Evans) and a shipment of gold are besieged by Howes' plunderers. Good action sequences staged by director Spencer Bennet, mostly filmed around Prescott, AZ. Tex sings "It's All Over Now". Ritter and producer Ed Finney moved to Monogram in 1938 when Grand National folded. Although his 20 westerns for Monogram varied in quality, Tex always felt he was at his creative peak during that period. TAKE ME BACK TO OKLAHOMA and WESTBOUND STAGE are the best two he made for Monogram.

 TWO FISTED JUSTICE (1943 Monogram)
When bandits (George Chesebro, Charles King, Frank Ellis) plague the stage routes, Wells Fargo calls in the Range Busters (John King, Dave Sharpe, Max Terhune). When Ray 'Crash' Corrigan left the Range Busters series in mid '42 after 16 films, he was replaced by Dave Sharpe. John King moved up to the lead spot, sporting a whiter shirt (or as in this one-a buckskin jacket). Davy left mid-way through the fourth film (HAUNTED RANCH) to enter the service. John King soon followed. Dennis Moore joined the trio and Corrigan returned (now listed as co-producer) to finish out the now-failing series with a weak group of four. Only Max Terhune made it through all the changes, appearing in all 24 titles. Leading lady Gwen Gaze is one we'd like to have 'gazed' on more - unfortunately, after two Hoppy's, THE SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND serial and four with the Range Busters, the lovely brunette married and returned to her native British Columbia. I like the way she winks at the camera at the end.

 SUNDOWN TRAIL (1931 RKO)
Tom Keene's first RKO B-western has him the foreman of a ranch inherited by an Eastern girl (Marion Shilling) who is at first disdainful of the West and unappreciative of Tom's help. It was an auspicious start, but the best were yet to come (COME ON DANGER, CHEYENNE KID, RENEGADES OF THE WEST). Handled with great care by director Robert F. Hill (who also wrote it) and with inventive photography by Ted McCord.

 SMOKY MOUNTAIN MELODY (1948 Columbia)
Roy Acuff emerged as one of country music's greatest stars in the early '40s and remained a leading personality on the Grand Ole Opry til his death in '92. He helped bring country music to the city and the world of business via 50,000 watt WSM radio and by establishing Acuff-Rose song publishing. Republic was first to realize his movie potential, casting him in GRAND OLE OPRY (originally purchased by Republic prexy Herbert J. Yates with intentions to make it a Gene Autry film) and four others from '40-'46. Rural/country music comedies were extremely popular in the '40s, especially in the Southeastern tier of states. Republic had Acuff as well as the Weaver Brothers and Elviry while Columbia was churning out music/comedy/action melanges with the Hoosier Hot Shots, Ken Curtis, Carolina Cotton, Johnny Bond, Eddy Arnold and others. The contrived plots (this one written by long time B-western scripter Barry Shipman) are basic B-western ideas (land and water rights here) in a modern day rural setting. The plots are actually immaterial, it's the music that counts, and SMOKY MOUNTAIN MELODY delivers in that respect with seven numbers by Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys. Russell Arms, later a singer on TV's YOUR HIT PARADE, has a good role but doesn't sing. Fred Sears was sometimes an actor (as in this film) and sometimes a director (many Durango Kid titles) - often both in the same film. Watch for Jock Mahoney as one of the ranch hands.

 STONE OF SILVER CREEK (1935 Universal)
I suppose Buck Jones had some deep moral message in mind when he produced this tale of reformation, but it's lost somewhere in all the theological talk of gun law vs. pulpit law - with three romances thrown into the mix. You can't blame Jones for trying something different, but it's apparent watching this and other 'Charles 'Buck' Jones Productions' for Universal that he should have stuck to the tried and true action format that worked so well for him.

 SONS OF NEW MEXICO (1950 Columbia)
Spoiled brat Dick Jones learns co-operation and fair play from Gene Autry and the New Mexico Military Institute boys, led by Russell Arms (later one of the stars of TV's YOUR HIT PARADE). Crooked gambler Robert Armstrong wants vengeance on Dick, the son of a man who turned him in years ago. Great supporting cast: Gail Davis, Clayton Moore, Frankie Darro, Kenne Duncan. Top rate production values and direction from John English. Gene's Columbia titles reflect a post war seriousness that had swept over the country. Plots were more involved, characters were better developed and more mature, fisticuffs were more violent. In addition, production values (under Gene's own corporation) were superior to anything else currently in the marketplace. Supporting casts drew from names that lent distinction to the program western (Jack Holt, Barbara Britton, Chill Wills, Robert Shayne, Douglas Dumbrille, James Griffith, Robert Armstrong), while still utilizing names that meant so much to B-western fans - Bob Steele, Robert Livingston, Clayton Moore, Jay Silverheels, Russell Hayden, Jock Mahoney, Tom Keene, Jim Davis. All told, Gene's Columbia titles include some of the best B-westerns ever lensed.

 THE MARKSMAN (1953 Allied Artists)
Burdened by too much talk, this is the weakest of Wayne Morris' B-westerns as he plays a roving U. S. Marshal naive on his detective work but an expert sharpshooter. Seeking rustlers (Frank Ferguson, Rick Vallin) who killed another Marshal (I. Stanford Jolley) and disguised as a prospector, Wayne's inexperience nearly gets him killed. Would have made a good half hour TV episode, but stretched to feature length, there's too much padding involving a lady western novelist (Elena Verdugo).

 STAR OF TEXAS (1953 Allied Artists)
Veteran director Thomas Carr elected to film this passable Wayne Morris entry in semi-documentary style with a narrator describing much of the action. The idea germ for this movie began in 1945 with Tex Ritter/Dave O'Brien's FLAMING BULLETS. A gang breaks wanted outlaws out of jail then kills them to collect the reward. The idea was recycled in 1951 with Whip Wilson's WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE. STAR OF TEXAS solidifies the idea with Ranger Morris joining the gang to flush out the mystery leader while his pal (Rick Vallin) watches from the sidelines. LAST OF THE BADMEN ('57) w/ George Montgomery and GUNFIGHT AT COMANCHE CREEK ('63) w/ Audie Murphy are virtually the same script (but oddly list different screenwriters)! Good support here from Frank Ferguson, Paul Fix, Jack (Jimmy Olsen) Larson, George Wallace.

 RIDERS OF THE DESERT (1932 Sono Art-World Wide)
Even though the Arizona Rangers have officially disbanded, the 'boys' gather to ride one more time to avenge the murder of a former member (H. B. Carpenter), a friend of Bob Steele's father (John Elliott). A pre-sidekick George Hayes makes an excellent heavy, as he did in several early John Wayne Lone Stars. Interesting to watch Al St. John in one of his very first sidekick roles beginning to develop what would become his "Fuzzy" character. Involving story, good action and stunts make this one of Steele's more entertaining independents from his early years. Directed by Bob's Dad, Robert Bradbury. Leading lady Gertrude Messenger was once married to ace stunt man Davy Sharpe.

 JESSE JAMES JR. (aka SUNDOWN FURY) (1942 Republic)
Summoned to Sundown by old pal Al St. John, Don Barry isn't interested in following in his lawman father's footsteps until his new friend, telegraph surveyor Douglas Walton, is waylaid and severely injured bringing equipment to town. It's then Don begins to live up to the fighting nickname of Jesse James Jr., given him by Walton, going into action-overdrive against Karl Hackett and his men - Jack Kirk, Bob Kortman, George Chesebro and Stanley Blystone. Blonde, blue-eyed, leading lady Lynn Merrick (who co-starred in no less than 16 B's with Barry) is no more than set decoration in this one. Merrick, first married to actor Conrad Nagel, eloped to Europe with millionaire heir Robert Goelet. A few months later, Lynn was in the news after attempting suicide following a fight with her husband. In 1950 a Santa Monica jury convicted Goelet of battery against a news photographer who took their picture as Lynn was leaving the hospital following her aborted suicide attempt. In 1955, they filed counter-marital suits each accusing the other of adultery. Lynn was last known to be working as a model agency rep in N.Y. One of the B-westerns most sought after but lost players, Lynn would be about 81 now, if still alive. Even though he's called Pop Sawyer here, Al St. John, beard and all, has perfected his Fuzzy routines, including the comedic expert use of his bicycle. Now he was fully ready to ride the range with George, Buster and Lash.

 A MAN'S LAND (1932 Allied)
Marion Shilling, unaccustomed to the ways of the west, co-inherits a cattle ranch (the Jaureguri) with Hoot Gibson. Plagued by rustlers (Robert Ellis, Charlie King, Al Bridge), she wants to turn it into a dude ranch but Hoot will have none of that silliness. Hoot's pal, Skeeter Bill Robbins, was in actuality Hoot's ranch manager. The only films he was in were with the Hooter. Another of Hoot's buddies from the silent days, former star Fred Gilman, plays one of Hoot's ranch hands.

 SONS OF KATIE ELDER (1965 Paramount)
Basically a big budget western with a B-western land-grab plot as badguy James Gregory steals the late Kate Elder's ranch. Her four sons (John Wayne, Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, Michael Anderson Jr.), who never really knew their Mother, return to right the wrongs done her and wind up knowing and understanding Katie better in death than they ever did in life. Even though there are four sons, it's Wayne's movie all the way in his first film after losing a lung to cancer. The Duke was out to prove he still could carry the ball-and he does. Director Henry Hathaway takes a mite long to get the action going and throws in too much comedy (the brothers fist fighting among themselves), but overall an enjoyable romp. Nice support from Ben Johnson, Paul Fix, Dennis Hopper and John Doucette.

 HERITAGE OF THE DESERT (1932 Paramount)
From the Zane Grey novel, Randolph Scott's first western has him as a land surveyor embroiled in defending his employer's ranch from land grabbers (David Landau and slow witted Big Boy Williams) while also falling in love with employer J. Farrell MacDonald's ward (Sally Blane) who is pledged to MacDonald's son, Gordon Westcott. It's a strong story, directed with a sure hand for pacing by Henry Hathaway, just then cutting his directorial eyeteeth. Hathaway wisely builds the tension, saving the action for the last. Oddly, even then it's MacDonald who dishes out retribution to Landau and Williams. Hathaway directed several more Zane Greys before going on to helm such A-western classics as SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS, RAWHIDE, FROM HELL TO TEXAS, NEVADA SMITH, NORTH TO ALASKA and TRUE GRIT. Sally Blane is the older sister of Loretta Young.

 ADVENTURES OF DON COYOTE (1947 U.A.)
Don Coyote (Richard Martin, Chito of the Tim Holt westerns) and singing compadre Sancho (Val Carlo) save the ranch for Frances Rafferty. Substitute Cisco kid for Don Coyote and you have the idea for this one-off B-western. Producer Buddy Rogers, who loved westerns, planned a series, but it didn't materialize. Frances Ratterty is best known as Spring Byington's daughter, Ruth, on TV's DECEMBER BRIDE ('54-'59). Benny Bartlett, who plays Rafferty's young brother, soon became one of the 'background' Bowery Boys, Butch, in 25 of their Monogram titles. Bob Williams wrote the story. Williams was a stalwart at Republic, scripting the best of the Rocky Lane, Monte Hale and Rex Allen titles. Originally lensed in Cinecolor, no color prints have apparently survived.

 SINGING VAGABOND (1935 Republic)
Cavalry plainsmen Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette and their 'singing vagabonds' rout out a band of white renegades (Allan Sears, Charlie King, Warner Richmond) supplying horses and guns to the Indians and still manage to save a troupe of Eastern entertainers led by Ann Rutherford and Barbara Pepper. Halfbreed gunrunner Allan Sears (1887-1942) was a bass opera singer prior to his limited work in about 10 westerns with Tim McCoy, Charles Starrett, Buck Jones and Autry. SINGING VAGABOND pokes a hole in the myth Gene was always 'Gene Autry' in every film as he's Tex Autry in this one. In stock footage is yet another use of that famous scene of Indians crossing the Little Wind River in Wyoming taken from Tim McCoy's WAR PAINT ('26).

 WEST OF THE LAW (1934 Imperial)
Bank bandits Franklyn Farnum and his two cronies try to hide out on Merla Bratton's ranch but foreman Wally Wales is wise to them. Wales, riding the late Fred Thomson's beautiful steed, Silver King, did his best for low budget producer William M. Pizor in seven 20 min. 'pocket westerns' in 1934, but the scripts, acting, and budgetary restraints kayoed him. To his credit, Wally always looked great and was better than the material - showing signs of the excellent character actor he was soon to become as Hal Taliaferro.

 TELEGRAPH TRAIL (1933 Warner Bros.)
After serials at Mascot and second leads to Buck Jones and Tim McCoy, somebody at Warner Bros. was smart enough to star John Wayne in a series of westerns, the first for Warners since the First National Ken Maynard triumphs - from which the Waynes borrowed liberal doses of stock footage to bolster the action sequences. Cavalry scout Wayne and pal Frank McHugh string telegraph wire across the west while besieged by Indians (yep - that Maynard stock) led by Yakima Canutt. Leading lady Marceline Day has the best role of her B-western career. In the background of one scene, Jack Kirk and friends harmonize on a song called "Mandy Lee" that you really want to hear all of uncluttered by talkover.

 RIDERS OF THE PONY EXPRESS (1949 Screencraft)
Ken Curtis is defeated not by bad guy John Dehner but by the completely amateurish production qualities - poor script (a good deal of it narrated), deficient acting and some of the worst photography you'll ever see. Much of the film was shot silent with sound (poorly) dubbed in later. Even when Ken and pal Shug Fisher sing several traditional cowboy songs, there's absolutely no spark to this boring mess. It's the only film Michael Salle ever directed, and it's easy to see why. Originally in color, only B/W prints seem to exist today.

 STALLION CANYON (1949 Astor)
Not to be defeated by RIDERS OF THE PONY EXPRESS, Ken Curtis tried again, this time under the helmsmanship of old low budget director Harry Fraser, and the results were certainly much improved. It's the standard badguy (Forrest Taylor, Ted Adams) after the ranch plot with the wild horse plot and a horse race to save the ranch thrown in for good measure. Leading lady Carolina Cotton is absolutely wasted, not being allowed to sing or yodel a note. Filmed in color at Kanab, UT, but color prints don't seem to have survived.

 MAN FROM THUNDER RIVER (1943 Republic)
When gold hungry robber baron Ian Keith frames young John James for a murder he didn't commit to get him out of the way so he can steal ore from James' mine, 'peaceable man' Bill Elliott and saddle pal Gabby Hayes ride the justice trail. Keith's henchies are Jack Ingram and Charlie King. To sidekick Gabby Hayes, leading lady Anne Jeffreys is just one of those 'dern persnickety women'. He may be right here, as there's hardly a reason for her to be in this film. Possibly the best use ever of the Republic cave set. This one's an action all the way winner!

 SWING IN THE SADDLE (1944 Columbia)
Lame identity-mix-up plot is simply a set-up for songs from Jane Frazee, Jimmy Wakely, Mary Treen, the Hoosier Hot Shots, Red River Dave (doing a nice job on "The Singing Hills"), and, as good as they are, what the heck is Nat King Cole's Trio doing in here? Then, talk about variety - they're followed by boisterous, bowlegged Cousin Emmy and her banjo on "Free Bird". Leading lady Sally Bliss (also in the Durango Kid's RUSTLERS OF THE BADLANDS) soon dropped out for a few years and re-emerged in 1950 as Carla Balenda (Republic TV's FU MANCHU series and Rex Allen's last, PHANTOM STALLION.) Columbia produced a whole slew of these lightweight time wasters in the '40s (usually with Ken Curtis). This is not one of the better ones.

 SOUTH OF RIO (1949 Republic)
Ranger Monte Hale busts up a crooked protective association run by Roy Barcroft and finds his brother (Douglas Kennedy) mixed up in the middle of it. These later action-packed Hales (produced by Mel Tucker) are far superior to his earlier music-oriented outings. Republic got Monte off on the wrong trail and, try as they might, were never able to recover; so the series was phased out and Rex Allen was brought in.

 FALSE PARADISE (1948 U.A.)
This is the best of the last twelve self-produced William Boyd/Hopalong Cassidy films (none of which are on a par with his earlier efforts). At least this one comes close as Hoppy (wearing the light gray "Bill Boyd" outfit and different hat often seen in these last titles) and his pals Andy Clyde and Rand Brooks help save the ranch for retired entomologist (Joel Friedkin) and his daughter (Elaine Riley, real life wife of Chito-Richard Martin). The ramshackle ranch sold to them by crooked realtor Kenneth MacDonald turns out to have a ledge of silver ore on it. Now, MacDonald and his cohorts (banker Cliff Clark and henchmen Don Haggerty, Zon Murray and Dick Alexander) stop at nothing to get the property back. Like the better Paramount Hoppys, the film builds to a rousing action climax.

 HEADING WEST (1946 Columbia)
The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) is caught in the crossfire of rival gun gangs in gold rich Bonanza City. One gang is bossed by snarly Norman Willis and John Merton with the other outlaw band headed up by Bud Geary and plug-ugly Frank McCarroll. Sidekick Smiley Burnette is a master magician this time around. Given that, there are those of us who wish he'd make himself disappear; especially in a pure farce scene where he breaks out in song with "The Scaredy Cat Blues" when threatened by one of the gangs. Bathroom break! Nonetheless, in his day with Autry and Starrett, Smiley was strong box office-popular with patrons and theatre owners alike. After 15 films, Starrett, Burnette, the writers and directors (Ray Nazarro here) had devised a Durango formula alternating plot, music and action that worked so well the films became a bit interchangeable. But that format proved extremely popular and worked well for years. A popular western music group was also essential to the mix. In this one it's Hank Penny and His Plantation Boys. The outspoken, jazz oriented Penny never became a household name as did contemporaries Merle Travis, Spade Cooley, Tex Williams, etc., but he remained in the business with hits like "Bloodshot Eyes" and "Little Red Wagon" for years, eventually opening, in 1950, California's most famous and eclectic country music nightclub, The Palomino, in North Hollywood. Reflecting Penny's tastes, the club hosted Monday night jazz sessions.

 HEROES OF THE SADDLE (1940 Republic)
When their good friend Kermit Maynard is killed in a rodeo accident, the 3 Mesquiteers (Robert Livingston, Duncan Renaldo, Raymond Hatton) care for his daughter (Patsy Lee Parsons) placing her in a children's home which turns out to be run by swindlers Byron Foulger and William Royle who are skimming half the orphanage's monthly county welfare money off for themselves. This is one of several Mesquiteers in which Livingston donned a Lone Ranger-like mask. Leading lady Loretta Weaver, daughter of Frank and June (Elviry) Weaver, sings a version of the Weavers' "Down in Logan County". This was her only B-western, and one of the weakest Mesquiteers entries even though it's directed by the best, William Witney.

 BATTLE OF GREED (1937 Crescent)
Lawyer Tom Keene and newspaperman James Bush as Mark Twain battle the corruption of Robert Fiske in silver rich Virginia City, NV, circa 1859. However, history tells us Twain didn't come to Virginia City til 1862! Leading lady Gwynne Shipman was the wife of prolific Republic screenwriter Barry Shipman. This was the third of Keene's historical dramas for Crescent, all made in 1936 but released from '36-'38. This one, as most, are tired, listless, talky, actionless affairs.

 SPRINGFIELD RIFLE (1952 Warner Bros.)
Maybe it wasn't planned, but Gary Cooper's first after HIGH NOON is in direct contrast to that film; slam-bang full of all out action heroics. Andre De Toth's fast-paced direction of the Charles Marquis Warren/Frank Davis script (based on a story by Sloan Nibley, who wrote the best of the later Roy Rogers scripts) adds new big budget life to the old story of a man who pretends he's an outlaw to bring a gang to justice. In this one, Cooper infiltrates a band of Confederates rustling horses bound for Union use. Not a wasted frame with great action, terrific stunts, gorgeous Lone Pine locations and a fabulous supporting cast: David Brian, Paul Kelly, Phil Carey, Lon Chaney Jr., Big Boy Williams, as well as in lesser roles, a roster of wonderful players more closely associated with B-westerns - Ray Bennett, William Fawcett, Rory Mallison, Holly Bane, Ewing Mitchell, George Eldredge, Ben Corbett and James Brown. Also watch for Fess Parker in a small, showy role and Michael Chapin, who was still busy at Republic starring in the Rough Ridin' Kids series, as Cooper's son.

 DESERT VENGEANCE (1931 Columbia)
Grim, adult plot with strong religious overtones is one of Buck Jones more unusual westerns with a redemption of the badman theme reminiscent of William S. Hart. So eventful are its plot machinations, we won't spoil them for you here. Let's just say, this Jones won't be to everyone's liking, but it deserves at least a viewing for you to make that decision. With Barbara Bedford, Douglas Gilmore, Al Smith, Ed Brady, PeeWee Holmes and Buck Connors as the Parson.

 TRIGGERMAN (1948 Monogram)
Mystery surrounds two pieces of a map to stolen loot sought by badman Bill Kennedy. Wells Fargo detective Johnny Mack Brown investigates by hiring on at the ranch run by Virginia Carroll where the loot is buried. Her foreman is Brown's old sidekick Raymond Hatton, but in this one they don't know and are distrustful of each other at first - which gives the film a different flavor. Plenty of action including, with Marshall Reed, one of the best barroom knuckle-busters in the Brown series. Leading lady Virginia Carroll was Mrs. Ralph Byrd. After a long career as a character actress, she's now retired in Santa Barbara.

 BREED OF THE BORDER (1933 Monogram)
Cowboy athlete Bob Steele drives a race car (including the final chase) and fences admirably with Fred Cavens; otherwise it's a routine Steele oater as he and pal George Hayes join forces with a female secret service agent (Marion Byron) to track down Mexican border smuggler Ernie Adams. Directed routinely by Steele's father, Robert Bradbury.

 FALSE COLORS (1943 United Artists)
Before their pal Bud (Tom Seidel) is killed, he makes Hopalong Cassidy, Andy Clyde and Jimmy Rogers two-thirds partners in the ranch he's just inherited from his late father. The threesome uncover a plot by Douglas Dumbrille to ring in a look-a-like substitute for Bud (also played by Seidel) and grab the ranch from the read Bud's sister (Claudia Drake). Dumbrille's gang consists of four very bad screen heavies--Roy Barcroft, Pierce Lyden, Glenn Strange and Bob Mitchum. Bit unusual for a Hoppy film, but welcome, are two headbanger fights - one with Mitchum and the other with Dumbrille. This is sturdy, intelligent, capable B-western film-making from director George Archainbaud and his crew.

 MYSTERY OF THE HOODED HORSEMEN (1937 Grand National)
Get out your B-western cliches notebook - we've got strangers, sasparilla, dead uncles, unknown big bosses, singing to the girl in the moonlight, Charlie King called Blackie, falsely accused hero, and badmen trying to get control of the whole valley. With a mystery villain, hooded riders, and that title, this should have been one of Tex Ritter's top films, but corners were obviously cut making what could have been a great B-western into only a mediocre one. Interestingly, Tex changes clothes and hat styles for a section of the film - something not usually done in budget westerns. Watch for Hugh Farr fiddling with Ray Whitley's Range Ramblers on some terrific western swing music in the barroom. Farr (and brotherKarl) became longtime members of the Sons of the Pioneers. Ritter, himself, sings his classic "Ridin' Old Paint". Keep an eye out too for Heber Snow (later Hank Worden) as a dumb deputy. Heber/Hank had been Tex's sidekick in the earlier HITTIN' THE TRAIL ('37) then played sidekicks, henchmen, deputies, townsmen-whatever-for the next 10 years with not only pal Ritter but also with Bob Baker, Buck Jones, Gene Autry, George O'Brien, Hopalong Cassidy, Tim Holt, Range Busters, etc. until he graduated to A-westerns in the mid '40s. He's best remembered as Old Mose in John Ford's THE SEARCHERS. One of the true Queens of western heroines, Iris Meredith, is Tex's leading lady. Iris soon became a stalwart at Columbia opposite Charles Starrett and Bill Elliott. After leaving the screen in 1943, facial cancer destroyed her beauty but not her spirit. Her last appearance, with a lower face-mask, was at an L. A. film festival in 1976. She was only 64 when she died in 1980.

 VIA PONY EXPRESS (1933 Majestic)
Jack Hoxie's horse is Dynamite - and it would take a keg of it to get this mess moving as Jack and cavalry captain Lane Chandler fight to restore Marceline Day's Spanish Land Grants. The tedium comes to a screeching halt midway for a fiesta song by a 'gay' caballero. Director Lew Collins gets the blame for the boredom.

 POCATELLO KID (1931 Tiffany)
Snide rustler Richard Cramer tricks the outlaw called the Pocatello Kid (Ken Maynard) into replacing his crooked sheriff twin brother after one-eyed Charlie King murders the brother in a card game. But Pocatello rights himself with the local ranchers in the exciting finish. Some sort of B-western record may have been set here as leading lady Marceline Day and Ken kiss four times! It's 1931 and you realize this is definitely a pre-Hays Office film when Richard Cramer exclaims 'Judas Priest!' and calls leading lady Marceline Day a 'Hellcat'. Then veteran heavy Charlie King says 'Hells-a-poppin' and 'Hell-bent'. Also if you listen closely in the middle of a gunfight in a shack someone hollers, 'You damn fool!' Watch for silent star Bob Reeves as one of the ranchers.

 KING OF THE WILD STALLIONS (1959 Allied Artists)
Ranch owner Diane Brewster and her foreman fiancé, George Montgomery, need $500 to save the ranch; coincidentally, just the price being offered for the capture of wild stallion Black Lightning by Emile Meyer, who's the one after Brewster's ranch. Altogether, a pretty tame 'hoss' opera with a nice turn by Edgar Buchanan as George's pal. Possibly the last western to utilize the short western street at what is now KCET-TV in L.A. Many indie westerns had been filmed there in the '30s such as PALS OF THE RANGE w/Rex Lease, VANISHING RIDERS w/Bill Cody, HEADIN' FOR THE RIO GRANDE w/Tex Ritter, WILD MUSTANG w/Harry Carey, RIDIN' FOOL w/Bob Steele, DESERT JUSTICE w/Jack Perrin, among others. Outdoor locales for KING OF are at Vasquez Rocks, now a state park.

 FIGHTING FOOL (1932 Columbia)
Sheriff Tim McCoy kills Robert Ellis' brother in the line of duty so Ellis, alias outlaw leader the Shadow, arranges to turn Tim's brother (Arthur Rankin) against Tim. The good girl is Marceline Day and the bad girl (with the far juicier role) is Dorothy Granger who would become Leon Errol's 'wife' in a long series of comedy shorts at RKO in the '40s.

 TOPEKA TERROR (1945 Republic)
Allan Lane exposes a Cherokee strip land fraud perpetrated by Roy Barcroft, Bud Geary and Frank Jacquet. Howard Bretherton directed with Yakima Canutt as 2nd unit action director but the film is undistinguished. The Lane series had inherited former juvenile ice skating star and obnoxious on-screen tyke Twinkle Watts from the cancelled Don Barry series. (Barry had a somewhat irreverent letter switching abomination of her name.) Thankfully, Watts' antics are directed toward annoying titular comic relief Earle Hodgins, who, in this film, is more annoying with his legalese bastardizations than is Watts. To the plus, we must say when we met Watts at a Southern film festival in the '80s, she was a most gracious and very sweet lady. Look for Eve (Eva) Novack as settler Jack Kirk's wife. After beginning her screen career in 1917, she played western leading ladies to silent stars Tom Mix, William S. Hart, Lefty Flynn, Neal Hart and others. TOPEKA TERROR was her first film in 15 years following a hiatus after completing the low budget Jack Perrin affair PHANTOM OF THE DESERT in 1930. She continued to work sporadically for another 20 years, especially character roles in distinguished westerns such as FOUR FACES WEST, THREE GODFATHERS, HELLFIRE and SERGEANT RUTLEDGE. Eva was the younger sister of Jane Novack whose career and popularity exceeded hers. Eva died at 90 in 1988. TOPEKA TERROR is also noteworthy for the second screen appearance of Monte Hale (BIG BONANZA was his first a year earlier). He's only unbilled background here but Republic was grooming him for better things within a year.

 DOWN RIO GRANDE WAY (1942 Columbia)
In the 1840s opponents of statehood for Texas stir up trouble and unrest so Congress will find the fledgling Republic incapable of self government. But swinging fists (5 fights!) and blazing lead win out as ranger Charles Starrett and rancher Russell 'Lucky' Hayden help Sam Houston (Paul Newlan) triumph over gnarly Norman Willis, politician Davison Clark and henchman Ed Cobb. Watch for silent star William Desmond in an unbilled non-speaking bit.

 TRAIL OF TERROR (1943 PRC)
Didn't every cowboy hero do a western where he had a double? (Buster Crabbe did several!) This is Dave O'Brien's chance as he plays a Texas Ranger and his outlaw twin brother who's part of a gang led by saloon owner Patricia Knox and her cohorts I. Stanford Jolley, Jack Ingram, Kenne Duncan and Frank Ellis. Budd Buster has perhaps the best role of his illustrious, prolific B-western career as the interested 'protector' of Knox, much like Richard Barthelmess was for Marlene Dietrich in THE SPOILERS a year earlier. Coincidence? I don't think so. Writer/director Oliver Drake turned in a dandy here and, due to its unusual plot twists, this ranks as the best of the Dave O'Brien/James Newill Texas Rangers series.

 GUNMAN FROM BODIE (1941 Monogram)
Exciting, fast paced action with a good script by Jess Bowers (aka Adele Buffington) makes this possibly the best of the eight Rough Riders titles as Buck Jones, impersonating badman Bodie Bronson, and Marshal Tim McCoy bust up a gang of rustlers (Robert Frazer, John Merton, Charlie King and even kindly, usually-a-father, Frank LaRue). Commonly known as 'the one where Buck finds a baby at the start of the film', the plot was reworked in 1945 for Jimmy Wakely's RIDERS OF THE DAWN and the Texas Rangers' GUNSMOKE MESA in '44. McCoy's scene in the bar where he scares the bejesus out of a nervous John Merton by painstakingly describing in detail how they hang a killer is a classic. Foreman Dave O'Brien sings to (and smooches) leading lady and ranch owner Christine McIntyre but his voice is dubbed by an unknown singer. Anyone care to venture a guess who might have done the vocal for Dave?

 GUN LAW (1938 RKO)
Marshal George O'Brien impersonates notorious outlaw The Raven to infiltrate the lawless element of Gunsight, Arizona. Then the gang gets the bright idea to have 'The Raven' impersonate the Marshal who he's supposed to have killed. From there on it's a round-robin who's who! Ray Whitley is George's singing waiter undercover pal. It's one of screenwriter Oliver Drake's best. Well photographed by Joseph H. August. This was the first of 16 O'Brien B's for RKO, all produced by Bert Gilroy. David Howard directed 14 of them, including GUN LAW. Watch for Art Davis on fiddle with Whitley's group. This is leading lady Rita Oehman's only film, except for a bit in Joe Penner's GO CHASE YOURSELF. Why? It's another of those film mysteries. Ward Bond has an early role as one of the badmen.

 NORTH OF THE RIO GRANDE (1937 Paramount)
When Lucky Jenkins (Russell Hayden) reports to Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) that his brother Buddy Cassidy has been killed by Sheriff Al Ferguson 'accidentally', Hoppy must exact revenge on Ferguson and mysterious bandit leader, The Lone Wolf (Stephen Morris - later Morris Ankrum). To do this, Hoppy pretends to be owlhoot Wild Bill Dynamite Magroo. With a moniker like that, you might guess you're in for one of the more unusual Hoppy episodes. To point that up even more, during a very bizarre barroom interlude - Gabby Hayes, hired as the new saloon piano player, accompanies dog heavy Walter Long as he sings "The Wearing of the Green" while the whole saloon crowd joins in, parading all over the saloon! At another point, saloon girl Faro Annie (Bernadene Hayes) sings "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" to Hoppy while they - and the whole saloon crowd - waltz away as if they were at a schoolhouse social. They're even joined by a barbershop quartet of bartenders! It's all pretty silly, but it exudes a certain charm seldom seen in a B-western. Lorraine Randall (who plays Buddy's widow) is actually Lorraine Hayes, younger sister of Bernadene Hayes. The producer felt three Hayes in the film was one too many, hence a name change. There's a hint at romance as Faro Annie waves goodbye to a reluctant to leave Hoppy. 'Funny, all my life men like Cassidy have been saying goodbye to me', she sighs sadly. Rousing, all-out action packed ending (including a train wreck) filmed around Sonora, California. This was the first film for Lee J. Cobb (acting under the pseudonym of Lee Colt, possibly so as not to be recognized by his N. Y. theatre friends). By the next Cassidy film, RUSTLER'S VALLEY, Colt/Cobb was the main heavy and soon began to use his real name as he went on to a distinguished Broadway/film/TV career.

 MASTERSON OF KANSAS (1954 Columbia)
Not an iota of fact in this Technicolor 'history lesson', but it's exciting fun as Sheriff Bat Masterson (George Montgomery) and Doc Holliday (James Griffith) forge an unfriendly alliance to prevent a hanging - and an Indian uprising by Jay Silverheels. Wyatt Earp's in here too-poorly played with no strength by Bruce Cowling. Bill Henry is the heavy and Nancy Gates is the gal. But it's Griffith's show all the way as he brings real life to his staid portrayal of Holliday. Griffith was one of the '50s-'60s best character players; his performances, in good or bad films, are always worthy of watching. He turned screen writer later on for SHALAKO and CATLOW. Director William Castle, who'd earlier helmed Crime Doctor and Whistler films, later became notorious for his gimmicky horror titles, HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, TINGLER, 13 GHOSTS etc. In between, he competently directed 10 westerns, 3 with Montgomery.

 LONESOME TRAIL (1945 Monogram)
Through odd circumstances Jimmy Wakely and his saddle pals John 'Dusty' James and Lee 'Lasses' White become partners with four con men (Horace Murphy, Zon Murray, Eddie Majors, Frank McCarroll) in a ghost town which soon becomes a prosperous boom town via a phony gold strike perpetuated by the con artists. Midway through, everything comes to a halt for a 10 minute 'politically incorrect' with blackface minstrel show - but who cares, it's highly entertaining with Lasses White, the harmony of the Sunshine Girls and fiddlin' Arthur Smith. Jimmy may not have been tops in the fisticuffs department, but his down home Oklahoma singing style was perfect for B-westerns, unlike the operatic emotings of George Houston, Fred Scott, Dick Foran, etc. Jimmy's lengthy string of hit records with and without Margaret Whiting attest to his popularity in that area. Produced, directed and 'written' by Oliver Drake with a plot swiped from Universal's 1943 Brown/Ritter CHEYENNE ROUNDUP, for which Drake was associate producer. Familiar Monogram Frank Sanucci music cues.

 WEST OF THE DIVIDE (1934 Lone Star)
John Wayne and his pal Dusty (George Hayes) are searching for the murderer of Wayne's father and the kidnapper of his baby brother 12 years earlier. The murdered father plot is one director Robert North Bradbury usually reserved for his real life son, Bob Steele, whom he directed many times. In the search, Wayne masquerades as 'Gat Ganns, Murderer'. There's more plot and less action to this than most of Wayne's Lone Star B's - but still enuf excitement to satisfy. Lloyd Whitlock is properly dastardly in his attempts to drive Virginia Browne Faire and her father (Lafe McKee) from their ranch. (Note that Virginia's name is incorrect in the credits as Virginia Faire Browne.) The white-haired, kindly McKee was the perennial father to dozens of daughters in '30s B-westerns. Yakima Canutt doubles at times for both Wayne and Whitlock. Larger than usual role for heavy Blackie Whiteford (usually 4th man through the door) as the whip wielding 'guardian' of the boy (Billy O'Brien) who turns out to be Wayne's kid brother.

 THUNDER TRAIL (1937 Paramount)
This is the film, based on Zane Grey's Arizona Ames, that set the tone and paved the way for all the "brothers separated as youngsters" westerns that followed. One (Gilbert Roland) grows up good, the other (James Craig) grows up with an outlaw father (Charles Bickford). Well photographed by the great Karl Struss (DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, RIDING HIGH, ROCKETSHIP X-M, etc.). Excellent supporting cast: J. Carroll Naish, Monte Blue, Marsha Hunt, William Duncan. Many western enthusiasts rate this one of the ten best B-westerns ever made. It's good, but it ain't that good in my opinion.

 DEVIL'S SADDLE LEGION (1937 Warner Bros.)
Framed for a murder he didn't commit, 'The Singing Cowboy', Dick Foran, is thrown onto an illegal dam building gang headed by snarling George Chesebro and the Ordley family father and son (Gordon Hart and Willard Parker) who are building the dam to change the course of the Red River, taking land away from Texas and giving it to the Ordley ranch in Oklahoma. And that's only the basics of a very convoluted plot! But it all moves so fast there's little time for you to figure it all out. It's not that Foran's singing voice was bad, it wasn't. It's just the light opera style in which his songs were often staged or presented (such as "God's Country" is here) is closer in nature to Nelson Eddy than it is Tex Ritter or Gene Autry which, essentially, worked much better in B-westerns. Noteworthy in the Foran series is that each film was individually scored, quite unusual for '30s westerns. Former silent star Jack Mower (1890-1965) has a bit part. This was the first role in movies for Willard Parker as leading lady Anne Nagel's foster brother, and he's obviously not yet comfortable with line delivery. Parker became the star of TV's TALES OF THE TEXAS RANGERS ('55-'58) as well as many films.

 ROLLIN' PLAINS (1938 Grand National)
Ranger Tex Ritter, his pals Ananias (Horace Murphy) and Pee Wee (Snub Pollard) ride smack dab into the middle of a sheep and cattle range war. For a change, it's the sheepmen who are the culprits (Karl Hackett, Charles King, Ernie Adams, Lynton Brent). Well paced story and action from director Al Herman. The leading lady is Harriett Bennet, daughter of famed director Spencer Gordon Bennet. This was her only movie as she decided acting wasn't for her. Veteran badman Ernie Adams was a master of frightened, nervous confessions. He's at his best here when he thinks he sees his brother's ghost (Hobart Bosworth). While Tex's tunes are run of the mill in this western, the Beverly Hillbillies are oh so harmonious with an unnamed ditty about Ohio. Grand National, about to go under, and producer Ed Finney saved a buck or two in this next to the last of Tex's B's at that studio by reusing stock footage from the windup of SING, COWBOY, SING from only a year before. Character player Horace Murphy (1880-1975) toiled for years in movies. He sidekicked in a few with Johnny Mack Brown at Supreme and Bob Steele at Republic before joining Ritter with his comic windbag routine. Australian born (1886) Snub Pollard came to the world of silent films as one of the original Keystone Cops. He made over 250 shorts for Hal Roach and others. With the coming of sound, he fell on hard times, being reduced to bit parts. With Ritter as Pee Wee in 12 films, his droopy, obviously phony mustache, painted-on eyebrows and perpetual hangdog look certainly made him the most unusual sidekick in B-western history. Pantomine was his specialty, so his best bits in the Ritters were of that nature. When he did start to speak, the verbose Murphy would usually interrupt. Pollard kept working on into TV, appearing in bits on CHEYENNE, CIMARRON CITY and other TVers. He died in 1962.

 THE TRAITOR (1936 Puritan)
One lynch mob - only one ranger needed to stop it, especially when it's hard riding Tim McCoy. After that scene, it's the old plot about the ranger rigging dishonorable discharge for cowardice but really going undercover to infiltrate the gang, who in this case are smuggling narcotics. Woven in also is the well used bit about the girl's (Frances Grant) brother being tied into the gang. But it's slow on action until the final shootout. Badly miscast is Pedro Regas, supposedly playing a tough Mexican bandit; he's far too wimpy for the role. However, the rest of the well known western cast makes up for it: George Chesebro, Slim Whitaker, Ed Cobb, Wally Wales, Karl Hackett, Dick Curtis, Roger Williams, Jack Rockwell, Frank Ellis and others.

 THUNDER MOUNTAIN (1947 RKO)
In this third screen adaptation of Zane Grey's To The Last Man, Tim Holt returns to his family ranch owing $6,000 back taxes. Unbeknownst to Tim and pal Chito (Richard Martin), the property will soon be worth a fortune when a dam is built by an irrigation company. Naturally, badmen Harry Woods, Richard Powers (formerly Tom Keene) and Harry Harvey want to grab the land by hook or crook, so they fuel the long standing feud between Holt's family and that of Martha Hyer and her brothers, Steve Brodie and Robert Clarke. This was Tim's first post-WW2 western. While his pre-war westerns and later RKO's were strictly in the B-western mold, the early post-war Holts were far more elaborate productions with strong, adult oriented scripts, top flight casts, great cinematography, outstanding Lone Pine locations and original music scores written by Paul Sawtell and conducted by C. Bakaleinikoff. Surprisingly, Tim gets physical with leading lady Martha Hyer in an unusual spanking scene. The bigger budgets at RKO really show. When you look at a barroom or street scene there are scads of patrons or people milling about, compared to seldom anybody except the principals in a Monogram or PRC saloon or street scene.

 UNDER THE TONTO RIM (1947 RKO)
With tight scripts, excellent photography, interesting locations, top drawer actors and excellent direction, the Tim Holt RKO's are a sheer delight to watch, especially the three early Zane Grey titles which all border on A-westerns. When the Tonto Rim gang led by Richard Powers (formerly '30s B-western star Tom Keene) kills one of Tim's best friends, he poses as an outlaw, befriends a gang member (Tony Barrett) and joins the killers in order to bring them to justice. Watch for pre-Tarzan Lex Barker in a small role as a deputy. Leading lady Nan Leslie and Holt were an off-screen item as well as making six westerns together. This film set the precedent for many Holts to follow wherein Tim is trapped in some way and Chito and the posse must facilitate a blazing six-gun rescue. With this film, and for the next two, Tim has his holsters rigged with his left pistol butt-forward for a cross draw while the right is set for a standard draw. This is even commented on in the film by Tim's sidekick, Richard Martin. Unusual for a B-western star, Tim takes a drink and smokes a cigarette. (He'd held a pipe in the previous THUNDER MOUNTAIN).

 MYSTERIOUS RIDER (1942 PRC)
Wrongfully accused (as always) Billy the Kid (Buster Crabbe) and sidekick Fuzzy St. John ride into Laramy - made a ghost town by John Merton and his owlhoots (Kermit Maynard, Jack Ingram, Slim Whitaker) so they can have a free hand while searching for a lost gold vein. Billy and Fuz help the rightful heirs to the mine, a brother and sister, Caroline Burke and Edward Brien. Now, there's two names unfamiliar to B-western watchers. This was Burke's first film, and the only one in which she had a decent part. She only appeared in bit parts in three other non-westerns. Brien (aka Edward Brian) did slightly better. He had a good role in his only other western as the 'Kid' of the Range Busters' KID'S LAST RIDE ('41), however, his other seven films were totally forgettable bit parts and he was never heard from again after 1946. Set in a ghost town (actually the Monogram ranch), MYSTERIOUS RIDER leaves plenty of room for spooky comic adventures with Fuzzy. Of all the cowboy heroes Fuzzy worked with (Fred Scott, Don Barry, George Houston, Bob Steele, Robert Livingston, Lash LaRue) he had better chemistry with Buster Crabbe than with any of the others. These were his prime years. On screen, Ted Adams is billed as 'The Marshal' but the role is played by Karl Hackett. Adams is not in the movie at all - neither is Guy Wilkerson who is often credited with a role.

 TERROR OF THE PLAINS (1934 Reliable)
Another one of Tom Tyler's numerous screen fathers has been framed for murder and Tom must find the real killer, Butcher Wells (William Gould), in a ghost town outlaw hangout. "A man that once goes in there, never comes out again", explains Tom's Dad. Natch - Tom not only does come out, but captures Wells, clears his father's name, and rescues a young female prisoner (Roberta Gale) in the process. [Gale, a heroine many people would like to locate, is reportedly now Roberta Zagon, the widow of a prominent Beverly Hills attorney.] Tom Tyler's western star status would most certainly have been greater if he'd just connected with better production values at Republic, Columbia or Universal. As it was, our Tom seemed relegated in the '30s to working for bottom of the barrel indie producers at Victory, Reliable, Syndicate, Monarch - until at last, late in his career, he finally became associated with Republic in 1941 as one of the 3 Mesquiteers. But even then, that series was on it's last legs. TERROR is certainly low budget but with a terrific action content - two rough and tumble fights with Gould and Slim Whitaker and a lengthy shootout in ghost town.

 PUEBLO TERROR (1931 West Coast/Cosmos)
Low budget though they may be, independent productions such as this Buffalo Bill Jr. opus have an authentic cowboy look to them that could not be duplicated by slicker studios like Republic, Paramount, RKO or Columbia. The ramshackle buildings, the rustic saloons with lousy singers, the clothing, the ranches, the fiestas, the undeveloped countryside, and especially the real 'cowboy actors' like Yakima Canutt, Art Mix, Hank Bell, Al Ferguson and Horace Carpenter. Director Alvin J. Neitz (1890-1952) directed and scripted much ultra-low budget fare like this in the early '30s before changing his name to Alan James and moving up to direct bigger stars like Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Tim McCoy, Jack Randall as well as several serials at Republic.

 VIGILANTES OF DODGE CITY (1944 Republic)
High energy, non-stop action content entry in one of the best - if not THE BEST - B-western series ever made. Red Ryder (Bill Elliott) becomes just a mite unpeaceable when badmen attempt to force Auntie Duchess' freight line out of business and frame him for not only that, but for rustling his own horses due for Cavalry remounts. Sturdy cast: Le Roy Mason, Hal Taliaferro, Kenne Duncan, Bud Geary, Tom London and Linda Stirling, although she's absolutely wasted and unnecessary in this episode. On the other hand, it's one of the best parts in the Ryder series for Bobby Blake as Little Beaver.

 CRASHING THRU (1949 Monogram)
The first of seven Whip Wilson/Andy Clyde B-westerns as Whip breaks up a gang of stage bandits. Better than average script from Adele Buffington (partially based on Tom Tyler's RIO RATTLER '35) features two women: a bad girl (Christine Larson) and a good girl (Jan Bryant). Buffington scripted over 50 B-westerns (under her real name and/or under her pen name Jess Bowers), mostly at Monogram for the Rough Riders, Johnny Mack Brown, Tom Keene, Cisco Kid, etc.). Director Ray Taylor rounded up a strong supporting cast to launch Monogram's new cowboy star: Tris Coffin, George J. Lewis, Steve Darrell, Virginia Carroll. Whip use: twice. This first film in the Wilson B-western canon of 22 starring titles from 1949-1952 gives the former singing bartender turned Grand Opera baritone one of only two chances to sing in one of his westerns. As he rides away at the end of CRASHING THRU, he robustly intones "Yippi-I-O-I-Ay" (written by Eddie Maxwell - aka Eddie Cherkose - who penned dozens of songs for Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, 3 Mesquiteers and other westerns and serials.) Whip Wilson (Roland Charles Meyers) was only 53 when he died of a heart attack in late 1964. Most sources credit his first film appearance as supporting Jimmy Wakely in SILVER TRAILS ('48), but he had an unbilled bit for what amounts to a screen test in Screen Guild's northwoods adventure with Robert Lowery, GOD'S COUNTRY ('46). Whip's widow, Monica Meyers, published his biography, MY LIFE WITH WHIP WILSON, in a 58 page 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" softback in 1981.

 RAIDERS OF THE WEST (1942 PRC)
The Frontier Marshals, Lee Powell, Bill Boyd and Art Davis, bust up a gang of counterfeiters (Charlie King, Glenn Strange, Kenne Duncan) holding a girl's engraver father hostage at a spook ranch. Watch for Eddie Dean as one of the dog heavies. Dean was still three years away from his own series for the same outfit. Former star Rex Lease is another of the heavies. Trio westerns were clicking with Saturday matinee kids. Republic started the idea with the 3 Mesquiteers in '36. Ray 'Crash' Corrigan continued the concept at Monogram in 1940 with the Range Busters. In 1941, Columbia joined Bill Elliott and Tex Ritter and added 'Cannonball' (first Dub Taylor then Frank Mitchell) to the team. PRC followed suit that same year with Dave O'Brien/James Newill/Guy Wilkerson as the Texas Rangers and figured one more trio would do just as well, hence the teaming in '42 of former serial Lone Ranger Lee Powell, Art Davis who had fiddled around in Gene Autry, Bill Elliott, Jack Luden and Tim McCoy B's and, from Dallas, Texas, Bill Boyd whose western swing band struck gold on RCA with "Under the Double Eagle" in '38. PRC dubbed him Bill 'Cowboy Rambler' Boyd (after the name of his aggregation) to avoid any misidentification with William 'Hopalong Cassidy' Boyd. Even by lowly PRC standards, the six Frontier Marshals titles epitomize the ultimate nadir in '40s B-western filmmaking. It's pathetically obvious here in a segment of just plain weird courtroom 'humor' that seems more suitable to a Marx Brothers comedy. Davis and Boyd's songs often seemed more 'country' than 'western'. In RAIDERS, Boyd warbles a cheerful ditty asking, "Tell me Mommy, why my Daddy don't come home". Then, when Davis DOES do a western tune, it's appalling: "It's pretty aggravating, when your horse lopes along like a snail". So, after six embarrassing outings, producer Sig Neufeld sent the Marshals packing. Subsequently, Marine Lee Powell was killed in WWII. Bill Boyd returned to Texas with another million seller, "Lone Star Rag" ('49), and continued performing until he suffered a stroke in '73. He died in '77. Davis, who had played clarinet, fiddle, guitar and other instruments with, not only Boyd prior to their films together, but with Milton Brown, the Light Crust Doughboys and others, joined the Navy. After his discharge in '45, he headed for Tulsa, OK, where he formed the Rhythm Riders band. He died in 1987, but not before seeing a resurgence in his music (classic LP's "A Cowboy and His Music" in '75 and "Art's Music Memories" in '81) and even a certain appreciation for his film work at several Memphis Film Festivals in the early '80s.

 TEX RIDES WITH THE BOY SCOUTS (1937 Grand National)
Tex Ritter and his silly pals Stubby (Horace Murphy) and Pee Wee (old time silent comic Snub Pollard) go after train robbers (Forrest Taylor, Charlie King, Karl Hackett) who stole $1,000,000 in gold. They're aided by Tommy Bupp and real members of Troop 13, L.A. District Boy Scouts of America in the final clean up. Leading lady Marjorie Reynolds later became William Bendix's TV wife on THE LIFE OF RILEY. Film features a newsreel prologue describing the history of the Boy Scouts. Tex and the original Beverly Hill Billies (at one time the most popular country music act in Southern California on KMPC radio) perform a fast-paced, rousing version of "The Girl I Left Behind Me". Filmed in picturesque Kernville.

 DESERT JUSTICE (1936 Atlantic)
Modern day western has horses being used by the city police force being phased out. Police officer Jack Perrin is so incensed that his mount, Starlight, will be sold at auction, he resigns from the force. After obtaining Starlight at the auction (with the help of leading lady Maryan Dowling), Jack and Starlight leave the city for his place on the desert - which just happens to be where Jack's brother, Dave Sharpe, and his bank robber pals (Roger Williams, Budd Buster) are hiding out. Rousing ending atop Pacoima Dam has Williams dynamiting the dam as Jack and Maryan's dog, Braveheart, fight to stop him. Lee Zahler's music score in this sequence greatly enhances the excitement. This, and three other nicely done 1936 westerns, were made by producer William Berke and Perrin under the Blue Ribbon Westerns banner and distributed by Atlantic, a company that primarily reissued older features licensed from United Artists. Berke (1903-1958) was a cameraman and screenwriter before becoming an independent producer. He later worked at Republic as producer, then began to direct full time at Columbia, RKO, Screen Guild, Lippert and others. He directs this feature under his pseudonym, Lester Williams.

 CHEROKEE UPRISING (1950 Monogram)
The bare-to-the-bones budget 'uprising' consists of one Indian, Iron Eyes Cody, taking orders from outlaw Sheriff Marshall Reed. U. S. Marshal Whip Wilson and partner Andy Clyde break up the gang. Whip possibly lashes out with his bullwhip in this one more than in any of his other B's, so there's plenty of action. Also with Lois Hall, Forrest Taylor, Lee Roberts, Chief Yowlachie. Filmed entirely on the Iverson Ranch with some great chase shots in the Garden of the Gods, sadly now all built up with condominiums.

 KING OF DODGE CITY (1941 Columbia)
First dynamite team-up of 'peaceable man' Bill Elliott and singing cowboy Tex Ritter is a six-gun classic. Tough, lean, witty script as the two stars ride in tandem to bring down a self-styled dictator, Guy Usher - Texas style. Contains one of the all time classic scenes in B-westerns as Tex taunts horse thief Jack Ingram with a song about 'a low down skunk'. This was Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor's last film with Elliott. Columbia moved him other to their new Russell Hayden series and brought in vaudevillian Frank Mitchell as the new Cannonball for the Elliott/Ritters. Also with Pierce Lyden, Tris Coffin, Francis Walker. Directed with flair by Lambert Hillyer.

 PALS OF THE RANGE (1935 Superior)
When Rex Lease takes over his uncle's unprofitable Circle Ranch, he, and his 'pal of the range', Milburn Morante (See NORTH OF THE BORDER) discover why it's losing money - the foreman of the next-door Circle B (George Chesebro) and his cohort (Yakima Canutt) are brand-changing rustlers. Leading lady Frances Morris underwent a name change to Frances Wright for this one film - and to this day she's not sure how it occurred. Watch for silent screen star Bill Patton in a bit role. John J. Luther's Cowboy Band sings "Farewell Pike County". Lease, known to his co-workers and friends over the years as a bit of a jokester, as well as a money borrower, fared better later as a character player than he did as a lead in this short string of independent westerns and a few serials in the early '30s.

 RED RIVER SHORE (1953 Republic)
After Marshal Rex Allen is forced to kill crooked businessman Trevor Bardette in a gunfight, he tries to keep from revealing to the businessman's son (Bill Phipps) that his father was a thief, but the head of the gang (Douglas Fowley) has other ideas. This was one of Rex's later non-singing B's, although he renders a nice version of "Red River Valley" under the title credits. Former rodeo comic Slim Pickens is Rex's sidekick. Look for oldtimer Jack Perrin as a slugged workman during the bank robbery. This was Rayford Barnes first movie. He went on to make HONDO and THE STRANGER WORE A GUN the same year and became one of the most prolific TV and movie heavies of the late '50s and '60s appearing in hundreds of shows, including at least ten episodes of GUNSMOKE. Much of the action was lensed at Burro Flats near L.A., now owned by Rocketdyne Industries. Republic musical director Robert Dale Butts was married to Dale Evans from Sept. '37-Nov. '46. Producer Rudy Ralston was leading lady Vera Ralston's brother. Bit of nepotism here as Vera was married to studio president Herbert J. Yates.

 RAIDERS OF SAN JOAQUIN (1943 Universal)
Tex Ritter leads downtrodden ranchers in a blazing battle against unscrupulous railroaders (George Eldredge, Jack Ingram, Henry Rocquemore). He's unknowingly aided by a Black Rider - Johnny Mack Brown. Leading lady Jennifer Holt has little to do in this one. Take it or leave it antics of resident Universal sidekick Fuzzy Knight and good music by Jimmy Wakely, Johnny Bond and Scotty Harrell. Most evident in the Brown/Ritter series is the Oliver Drake formula of a strong plot teaming two top stars as friendly adversaries along with a dash of western music that proved so popular at Universal for several years with varying stars.

 MELODY TRAIL (1935 Republic)
Essentially a comedy (a baby stealing dog, Gene Autry in an apron, mistaken identities, Smiley Burnette's antics) with a fast-paced action windup. Gene's second Republic starrer helped set the tone and establish the Autry mystique that would 'rein' over westerns for the next decade. It was in MELODY TRAIL that Smiley adopted the Frog Millhouse moniker (and characterization) that he used for all his years at Republic with Gene, Sunset Carson and Eddie Dew. Also with Ann Rutherford, Al Bridge, Fern Emmett, Gertrude Messinger.

 BOSS COWBOY (1934 Superior)
Let's see - shifty George Chesebro, ranch foreman for Sam Pierce and his just returned sister, Frances Morris, is making advances on her and rustling cattle of nearby rancher Lafe McKee who has a just back from the East daughter, Fay McKenzie, who is fond of Lafe's foreman, Buddy Roosevelt. Got it? It's really not worth it - just a lot of bottom-rung-budget milling around directed by inept Victor Adamson. This one's so low budget, someone forgot to notice toward the end that Buddy had been sporting a mustache for the rest of the film. It suddenly disappears - then reappears in the last shot! A brief burst of some interesting desert action in the last 10 min. and George Chesebro's always fun to watch hammy chew-up-all-the-scenery save this no-budgeter from the can.

 SINGING BUCKAROO (1937 Spectrum)
Minor stuff as two renegades (Roger Williams, Dick Curtis) try to get $25,000 from leading lady Victoria Vinton (See CHEYENNE TORNADO) and her father. This film is notable for the only B-western appearance of legendary archer Howard Hill (1899-1975). (He also participated in BUFFALO BILL, THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON and SAN ANTONIO among others.) Hill not only taught everyone in Hollywood how to handle a bow and arrow when necessary but is famed for his big game archery expeditions, one of which was filmed as TEMBO in the '50s. Hill is responsible for all the fine archery in ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD - in which he has a small role as the Captain of the Archers. Here he's star Fred Scott's Indian friend Maneeto. Unusual comedy relief supplied by vaudeville doubletalk artist Cliff Nazarro (1904-1961), including a long segment near the end that seems like an added-on time filler. Nazarro was also in Scott's first as well as a later Hoppy and an Autry. The 21 Bill Cody and Fred Scott westerns were all lowly Spectrum ever released, save one French import. All were produced by independent units and released on a state's rights basis through Spectrum.

 FLAMING BULLETS (1945 PRC)
Wanna have an interesting evening? Watch FLAMING BULLETS w/Tex Ritter and Dave O'Brien, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE ('51) w/Whip Wilson, STAR OF TEXAS ('53) w/Wayne Morris, LAST OF THE BADMEN ('57) w/George Montgomery and then GUNFIGHT AT COMANCHE CREEK ('63) w/Audie Murphy. They all employ the same plot! But they employ 4 different screenwriters! A gang breaks wanted outlaws out of jail then kills them to collect the reward. The laughing gas gag during the final battle in this one is a bit hard to swallow. Tex sings Gene Autry's "Be Honest With Me" and Ray Whitley/Fred Rose's "I Hang My Head and Cry".

 RIDIN' FOOL (1931 Tiffany)
Pals Bob Steele and Ted Adams are accused of crimes they didn't commit while both vie for the affections of the girl, Frances Morris. Long before Gene Autry even thought about it, Steele sings "I Fell In Love with You, Can't You Fall In Love With Me?" to Morris. Problem with these early talkies is the technicians hadn't learned how to place the microphones out on the range, so the action (what there is of it) is primarily confined to sound stages, giving RIDIN' FOOL the feel of a play. Also weak here is the fact one of the real culprits - Al Bridge - is never caught and dealt with! Leading lady, Frances Morris, (once married to actor Antrim Short) turned to character parts in the '40s and continued to work into the '60s. At 95 (she says) she's alive and well in Newhall, CA.

 TONTO KID (1935 Resolute)
"Three saddle aces add up to a full house" pronounced Resolute advertising. Rex Bell, Ruth Mix and Buzz Barton all start out on the devious side of the law but wind up on the right to outwit nefarious lawyer Ted Lorch. The first film for the new Resolute company was to be the first of six starrers for Bell/Mix/Barton, only four of which were actually made. Ruth Mix is Tom's daughter, so Resolute was trading on her name. Buzz Barton had been a big star as a youngster in silents for FBO (1927-'29) but never equaled that fame in talkies. Strongly handsome, Bell began as a western star at Fox during the very tail end of the silent era. This was his second sound series (the first was for Monogram) to be followed by a brief stint for producers Max and Arthur Alexander through Colony before he devoted time to Nevada politics (as Lt. Gov.) and marriage to screen vamp Clara Bow. Note that director Harry Fraser's name is misspelled Frazer on screen and that screenwriter Harry C. Crist is an alias for Fraser.

 WILD HORSE RUSTLERS (1943 PRC)
The Lone Rider (Bob Livingston) and Fuzzy St. John are framed for murder by Nazi saboteurs led by Lane Chandler who just happens to be the twin brother of Smoky, Livingston's pal and leading lady Linda Johnson's ranch foreman. The horse poisoning goose steppers are tripped up by their own 'Heil Hitler'. This was just one of many in the sub-genre of 'patriotic wartime westerns' to feature Nazi badmen. Some of the others were VALLEY OF HUNTED MEN and PHANTOM PLAINSMEN both w/3 Mesquiteers, TEXAS TO BATAAN, COWBOY COMMANDOS and BLACK MARKET RUSTLERS all w/the Range Busters, TEXAS MANHUNT w/Lee Powell, Art Davis and Bill Boyd, CYCLONE PRAIRIE RANGERS w/Charles Starrett and WHERE TRAILS END w/Tom Keene.

 HAUNTED MINE (1946 Monogram)
Murder in an old mine, a throat slashing crazed 'ghost' with a straight razor (Ray Bennett), secret passageways - Nevada Jack MacKenzie (Johnny Mack Brown) and Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton) investigate and save the day for Linda Johnson and her Mom from unscrupulous John Merton and his boys (Marshall Reed, Terry Frost). Nicely paced by Derwin Abrahams. A memorable Brown that stands out from the pack.

 CODE OF THE OUTLAW (1942 Republic)
The 3 Mesquiteers adopt and straighten out the son (Bennie Bartlett) of an outlaw (Weldon Heyburn) they've gunned down. This was Bartlett's shining hour - he has more to do here (and does it well) then in all the dozens of Bowery Boys films he later appeared in, often getting only a line or two with Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall. Leading lady Melinda Leighton changed her name to Linda Johnson for her next film, SUNDOWN KID w/Don Barry. CODE also features Kenne Duncan, Chuck Morrison, Donald Curtis, Dick Alexander, Sonny Bupp.

 SUNDOWN KID (1942 Republic)
With two bang up fist fests in the first 10 min., this is absolutely one of Don Barry's most action-packed B-westerns. Don's a Pinkerton agent after counterfeiter Ian Keith (and his henchmen - Ted Adams, Bob Kortman, Kenne Duncan, Bud Geary, Wade Crosby) when he stumbles across his long lost mother, who has a lode of the funny money. This is frequent leading lady Linda Johnson's best role (she's also known as Melinda Leighton and Linda Leighton). First scene shows how good a director Elmer Clifton could be. In what could be a very stagnant scene in a cramped jail cell, Clifton keeps the actors (Barry and Wade Crosby) moving as well as the camera. He turns what could have been a very dull scene into an excellent scene. Clifton's career reaches as far back as 1917 at Universal, Paramount and Fox. For whatever reason, his sound work is primarily bottom rung studio stuff - Puritan, Reliable, Superior, PRC with a few bursts of excellent work at Universal (DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS) and Republic (this one and Barry's DAYS OF OLD CHEYENNE, BLOCKED TRAIL w/3 Mesquiteers, CAPT. AMERICA serial). Watching his unique work here, why he wasn't employed more by better studios is a mystery to me.

 DAVY CROCKETT, INDIAN SCOUT (1950 United Artists)
Set in 1848, there's no coonskin cap here; George Montgomery wears a cowboy hat as he's really the nephew of the famous scout. Phillip Reed as his Indian pal gets the girl, Ellen Drew. Very routine affair. Its budgetary limitations are evident in the vast amount of stock footage used by oldtime director Ford Beebe who had helmed serials at Mascot and Universal, westerns with Tim McCoy, Johnny Mack Brown and Jimmy Wakely, Universal horror films, even all 12 of the Johnny Sheffield Bomba the Jungle Boy Monograms in his over 40 year directorial career.

 PANAMINT'S BAD MAN (1938 20TH Century Fox)
Marshal Smith Ballew masquerades as outlaw Blackjack Deevers to deal himself in on the dirty doings of Noah Beery Sr. and Harry Woods in silver rich Panamint. He's doing fine until the real Deevers (Stanley Fields) turns up. Fields' 'comedy' may be a bit much for some western purists. Altho he was in a-plenty of westerns in the '30s, including the Academy Award winning CIMARRON, DESTRY RIDES AGAIN and Buck Jones' ROCKY RHODES among others, he seems more at home in LITTLE CAESAR or HELL'S KITCHEN. He died of a heart attack in '41. Fox just didn't put their full efforts into making B-westerns as did other major studios like Columbia, RKO, Paramount and Universal. Ballew's last starring western, OSAGE, filmed near Pawhuska, OK, in 1949 was never released and remains a lost film today.

 FRONTIER REVENGE (1948 Western Adventure)
The director, Ray Taylor, also claimed credit for 'original screenplay' on this Lash LaRue oater, but, in truth, he stole it from PANAMINT'S BAD MAN w/Smith Bellew which Taylor directed in 1938. The plot is basically the same and some of the lines are exactly the same! However, Taylor did substitute some whip-wielding action and Fuzzy St. John antics in place of Stanley Fields' comic role in the former title.

 MAN OF ACTION (1933 Columbia)
Ranger Tim McCoy rides straight into a puzzling bank robbery mystery. Playing as much like a Charlie Chan detective film as a western, this intriguing story is loaded with suspects: the bank teller (Walter Brennan), the Sheriff (Wheeler Oakman), an old outlaw foe (Ted Adams), the banker (Joe Gerard) and an unfriendly suitor of the girl Tim favors (Stanley Blystone). Bit talky due to its mystery nature and there's a little too much time spent on unfunny exchanges with Tim's amigo Don Miguel (Julian Rivero), but it holds your interest. Tim once told me he was so impressed by "that young new actor, Walter Brennan" that he went to the front office and told them, "You need to so something with him".

 SOMBRERO KID (1942 Republic)
Action-packed but complex yarn forces competent director George Sherman to whiz by some of the plot points a bit too quickly. Marshal Robert Homans raises two sons - Don Barry and John James. When their father is killed, nasty banker Joel Friedkin and cohort Stuart Hamblen reveal that one of the brothers is the son of an outlaw. On top of that, Barry, James and Friedkin's wastrel son, Rand Brooks, are all vying for the affections of Lynn Merrick, the ward of evil Friedkin. Previous Tex Ritter/Tom Keene cactus comedian Slim Andrews supplies some comic relief here, but star Don Barry wanted no part of playing scenes with someone much taller than he. Therefore, Slim only made two with Barry then went on the road with Tex Ritter and worked in radio and TV (L.A., Fresno, Pittsburg, KS) for the rest of his career - save one low-budget B with Clayton Moore, BUFFALO BILL IN TOMAHAWK TERRITORY ('52).

 TIOGA KID (1948 PRC)
If you've seen Eddie Dean's DRIFTIN' RIVER ('46), you've seen 80% of this one. Director Ray Taylor reassembled and re-edited previous Bob Tansey footage and added about 15 min. of new story revolving around Dean look-alike badman, the Tioga Kid. Otherwise, same songs, same basic cast with the same names, same action.

 CARSON CITY RAIDERS (1948 Republic)
Former outlaw Fargo Jack (Steve Darrell) is attempting to go straight as a Sheriff but outlaws discover his old identity and create a new Fargo Jack in order to throw suspicion on the Sheriff for their ore robberies. Allan 'Rocky' Lane and Nugget Clark (Eddy Waller) of course outwit and outgun them. The referred to 'Fargo Jack draw' is one with a twirl of the gun as it's drawn from the holster which Yak perfected in the early Lone Star John Waynes. (You'll notice Wayne use it in those B's also.) And since Yak directed this Lane title - here it is again as an integral part of the plot. Harold Goodwin, who'd been around since the dawn of talkies, admirably fills in for Roy Barcroft in this one. Leading lady is Beverly Jons, looking a lot like Gail Davis in several scenes. After a brief 4 year career and only a half dozen films (3 westerns) she disappeared.

 DUEL AT SILVER CREEK (1952 Universal-International)
The Silver Kid (Audie Murphy) joins up with Marshal Lightning Tyrone (Stephen McNally) to save peaceable miners from claim jumpers led by Gerald Mohr. It's really McNally's film as he narrates it, handles most of the action and the plot revolves around him. Murphy's only there to back him up. If the first 15 minutes or so, in which Audie's miner father is killed, seems disjointed from the rest of the film, they are. Director Don Siegel brought the film in at 60 min., a real no-no for an 'A-western' at Universal, so he added a prologue, some narration, a chase and presto - 77 minutes. Problem is, Murphy's miner's son character in the early scenes don't mesh well with his Silver Kid gunfighter in the bulk of the film, and there's no explanation or continuity as to how he became this hardened gunfighter. We're left to assume he took this path when his father was killed in order to track down the claim jumpers. Siegel directs with flash and flair. Everything and everybody is over the top. The final shootout is action-packed. Pure entertainment. Co-stars Faith Domergue, Susan Cabot, Lee Marvin (in an early role). Look for former minor B-western star Johnny Carpenter as one of the 'jumpers'.

 BATTLES OF CHIEF PONTIAC (1953 Jack Broder Productions)
The real battle for Chief Pontiac (Lon Chaney Jr.) is the lousy script with way too much talk of peace between white and red man. Oh so nasty Hessian Barry Kroeger chews up every piece of scenery he can get close to as he sends smallpox infected blankets to the Indians. Whites did, in fact, introduce the terrible disease to the Indian, but that grain of truth can't save this bore. It should be burned with the infected blankets! Free ranger Lex Barker and white girl-captive Helen Westcott have to suffer through some absolutely dreadful dialogue scenes.

 WESTERN FRONTIER (1935 Columbia)
Ken Maynard stars in (and is credited with the story for) this western evergreen about youngsters separated following an Indian raid. This time brother (Ken) and sister (Nora Lane) each have half a map to a gold mine tattooed on their arms. Full grown, Ken masquerades with a medicine show (giving him full rein to play banjo and fiddle, sing and spin rope) to round up a gang of desperadoes led by a 'golden haired girl' - guess who? Ken's horse Tarzan does his tricks; 3 1/2 year old Buzz Henry is cute as can be in his first western; superb Maynard horsemanship and gorgeous Lone Pine locations make this a Maynard must-see.

 LOST CANYON (1943 U.A.)
Flat out inferior Hopalong Cassidy remake of his own RUSTLER'S VALLEY ('37) with Jay Kirby taking the part of accused bank robber Russell Hayden. Doug Fowley is at his nastiest. To William Boyd's disgruntlement, I'm sure, music was added to this version. And he was right, the Sportsmen Quartet's "Spurs That Jingle Jangle Jingle" (sung twice!) is way out of place in style for a Hoppy western. Their style belonged on the Jack Benny Radio Program where they were staples for years. Watch for Spade Cooley as a fiddler in the dance scene. Question remains, why did U.A. remake an earlier (and not even one of the best) Cassidys.

 RED BLOOD OF COURAGE (1935 Ambassador)
Undercover Mountie Kermit Maynard does some of his fabulous fancy trick riding and foils Northwoods bandits. Ann Sheridan, on loan-out from Paramount, is the only bright spot here. It was at Warner Bros. in a few years that she became a major star. Charlie King has a minor role.

CYCLONE FURY (1951 Columbia)
The Durango Kid (Charles Starrett) (and liberal doses of stock footage from his 1946 GALLOPING THUNDER) round up remounts for the cavalry. Starrett and Smiley Burnette are opposed by Clayton Moore, on salary strike from THE LONE RANGER TV show when this was made. Smiley Burnette fan or not, you'll admire his beautiful harmonizing with Merle Travis and his Bronco Busters on "Hear the Wind (Singin' a Cowboy Song)". It truly shows what Smiley was capable of when he discarded his froggy voice and really tried. This, too, was lifted entirely from GALLOPING THUNDER. One fabulous stunt has Durango (Jock Mahoney) leaping over two horses onto his own! Sometime Durango director Fred Sears lets Ray Nazarro patch his extensive stock from GALLOPING THUNDER together with the new footage while he turns in a tepid acting job. By the way, Columbia set decorator George Montgomery is no relation to the actor. Oddly, the acting George once told me he never even heard of the guy! Child star Louis Letteri went on the play Little Beaver in a failed Allan 'Rocky' Lane RED RYDER TV pilot made for Gene Autry's Flying A Productions.

 CROSS FIRE (1933 RKO)
Tom Keene returns home after WWI to find crooked mine owners have outlawed his 'over the hill gang' friends. Good blend of cowboys and gangsters. Leading lady Betty Furness went on to be TV's Westinghouse refrigerator pitchlady. She later was appointed President Johnson's Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs, wrote a consumer advocacy column and became consumer affairs director for WNBC in NY.

 SUDDEN BILL DORN (1938 Universal)
Strange, tedious, confusing, poorly developed and anything but 'sudden'. Even the bad guy sings a love song to Evelyn Brent (?) If this was the first Buck Jones movie you ever watched, you'd never watch another.

 CARIBOO TRAIL (1950 20th Century Fox)
Gold fever, the first cattle herds to Canada, Indian raids, ruthless men, nonstop action and drama serve to make this one of Randolph Scott's absolute best from this or any period. Victor Jory is slimy and Gabby Hayes is at his gol-dern best. Gorgeous Cinecolor. Supporting cast of western greats who all went on to star in their own TV series including Bill Williams (KIT CARSON), Dale Robertson (TALES OF WELLS FARGO), Douglas Kennedy (STEVE DONOVAN, WESTERN MARSHAL), Jim Davis (STORIES OF THE CENTURY). Not to be missed.

 WESTERN COURAGE (1935 Columbia)
Dude ranch foreman Ken Maynard tames the spoiled, headstrong eastern girl (Geneva Mitchell) who prefers (at first) a 'four flusher' dude who has a chippie on the side and only intends to marry Mitchell for her money. Sort of a Gene Autry plot with a Maynard twist. There's gunplay, fistfights (one atop an Iverson location ranch cliff), rescues by Ken's palomino Tarzan (one from a burning shack), outlaw kidnappers, and plenty of that great Maynard horsemanship. Ken even 'fiddles around' at a dance. A real winner. With Ward Bond, Wally Wales.

 LOST RANCH (1937 Victory)
Tom Tyler and sidekick Happy (Howard Bryant doing a blatant Smiley Burnette imitation) sing!?! (Is that Glenn Strange's voice dubbed for Tyler?) Average Tyler enlivened by Forrest Taylor villainy and an above average leading lady for these low budgeters, Jeanne Martel (wish she'd done more). Pretty too. Sidekick Bryant only made two films - the other is ORPHANS OF THE PECOS with Tyler.

 CHEYENNE TORNADO (1935 Kent)
From the low budget '30s flailing-arms-fisticuffs school of B-westerns. Sheepmen/cattlemen feud with troublemakers Ed Cobb and Roger Williams in the middle. Ex-footballer/non-actor Reb Russell is fun to watch; he's inept but tries so desperately. Two girls - fiery Mex Tina Menard and Jean Harlow-like platinum blonde Victoria Vinton, who, having starred in several grade Z westerns while doing bit parts in A-films from 1934-1944, suddenly disappeared. One of the most interesting aspects of this film is Smiley Burnette (fresh under contract to Republic with Autry) singing his "Ridin' Down the Canyon" behind the title credits.

 ARIZONA CYCLONE (1941 Universal)
Innovative and unusual camera setups from director 'wagon wheel' Joseph H. Lewis make this a visually exciting and above average Johnny Mack Brown B-western. Lewis also manages to rein in Fuzzy Knight's unfunny antics. Good song by the Notables - "On the Trail of Tomorrow". Neat left side of the horse mount by Johnny Mack. Good hard riding sequence with Nell O' Day at Iversons. For talented Kathryn Adams, it's the best role among her three Browns. Wish Universal had utilized her more. When the long over-due barroom bust up between Brown and heavy Dick Curtis finally arrives, it's a doozy. This is Universal Johnny Mack Brown at its best!

 STAR PACKER (1934 Lone Star/Monogram)
The mysterious outlaw leader, the 'Shadow', gives orders to his henchmen (Earl Dwire, Ed Parker) from a secret panel behind a wall safe in the back room of the saloon. There's also a secret tunnel under the room leading to a hollowed out old tree stump in the street from which the 'Shadow' ambushes his enemies - like Marshal John Wayne. Good chance for you to see a totally clean shaven George Hayes as Verna Hillie's uncle. Stuntman Yakima Canutt gets a real workout here - playing Wayne's ('Hi You Skookum-Big Fun') Indian pal (Yak), doubling Wayne, Hayes and probably others. Directed by Bob Steele's father, Robert North Bradbury. These Wayne Lone Stars have been reissued many times - some of the bastardized versions feature new music, have been colorized and even added replacement voices for Wayne and others! But you'll want to find them in their pure, original form to enjoy their energetic, raw charm. Incidentally, the whole exciting ending was reused 16 years later for Jimmy Ellison's CROOKED RIVER ('50).

 BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE (1941 Universal)
Weak Johnny Mack Brown claim jumper entry with way too much unfunny 'comedy' between sidekick Fuzzy Knight and badman Ernie Adams. Too little music from Jimmy Wakely's Rough Riders. Leading ladies Nell O'Day and Kathryn Adams are virtually wasted. Brown has a couple of good battles with badman Harry Cording. Helmer Ray Taylor began directing in 1929 and worked til 1949, just three years before his death. He directed over 70 westerns - many with Brown, others with Buck Jones, Tex Ritter, Lash LaRue, Eddie Dean, and Whip Wilson.

 RAWHIDE RANGERS (1941 Universal)
Good revenge tale as Johnny Mack Brown turns from ranger to outlaw (not really) to find his brother's (Riley Hill in a good-but quick role) killer. Good slugfests between Johnny Mack and badman Harry Cording. Kathryn Adams and Nell O' Day are sisters. Little too much pie-stealing 'comedy' between Fuzzy Knight and Chinese cook Chester Gan. Directed by prolific Ray Taylor (1888-1952) who began as an assistant for John Ford. His work is always better than one has a right to expect under budgetary restrictions.

 JAWS OF JUSTICE (1933 Principal)
Elements of Edgar Allan Poe's The Gold Bug sneak into this dreadful Jack Perrin (here billed as Richard Terry for some unexplainable reason) Mountie/dog (Kazan with an amputated tail!) story filmed around Lake Tahoe. Kazan belonged to the producer Jack King, who also produced and starred in a low-budget B himself, FIGHTING FURY (aka OUTLAW'S HIGHWAY) in 1934, also with Kazan.

 BORN TO THE WEST (rereleased as HELL TOWN) (1937 Paramount)
Superior western entertainment. Good script, good actors, good direction (by Charles Barton) lift this Zane Grey entry into near A territory. Drifter John Wayne straightens out his slightly wayward life and woos Marsha Hunt when he becomes trail boss for cousin Johnny Mack Brown, who has to rescue Wayne before it's all over. Alan Ladd is listed in a bit role, but I defy you to spot him. Full of stock footage from earlier silent and talkie Paramount Greys. Watch for Russell Hayden, Buster Crabbe and Jack Holt (who starred in the original 1926 film, HELLTOWN) in the stock.

 HEART OF THE WEST (1936 Paramount)
William Boyd, Jimmy Ellison and George Hayes round up rustlers in this slow, dull Hopalong Cassidy dozer. This one just never gets going although it's especially well photographed by Archie Stout, taking every advantage of the Kernville countryside. Excellent veteran heavy Fred Kohler is completely wasted in a nothing role. Early, particularly lascivious part for Sidney Blackmer, showing promise of the outstanding character actor he would become. (Blackmer was married to B-western leading lady Suzanne Kaaren.) Storekeeper (and B-western vet) Bob McKenzie is the real life father of oft-times Gene Autry leading lady Fay McKenzie.

 WESTERN HERITAGE (1948 RKO)
The best of Tim Holt's westerns were minor A's, and this is one of the best. Tim proves Harry Woods' Spanish land grants are forgeries. Great cast includes Tim's frequent leading lady (and off-screen gal pal) Nan Leslie, veteran heavy Harry Woods, Richard Powers (former RKO lead Tom Keene), wonderful character player Walter Reed, Tony Barrett (who turned screenwriter and created TV's PETER GUNN), Robert Bray (later star of TV's STAGECOACH WEST and LASSIE) and, of course, sidekick Richard (Chito Jose Gonzales Bustamonte Rafferty) Martin. (Martin's real life wife was B-western leading lady Elaine Riley.) This is the last western of Tim's early post-war series in which he wore his left pistol butt forward for a cross draw and his right rigged for a standard draw. Oddly, Tim rides a chestnut quarter horse in this film rather than his usual palomino, Lightning.

 GUNSMOKE (1953 Universal-International)
A good western starts with a good script; this one has it. Tough, lean, taut story (by D. D. Beauchamp) recycles a ranch grab B-plot with A-overtones. Audie Murphy is the self assured gunslinger for hire looking to settle down. Great supporting cast well guided by Nathan Juran - Paul Kelly, Jack Kelly, Susan Cabot, Charles Drake, Mary Castle, then peopled by stalwarts like Gregg Barton, Holly Bane, Denver Pyle, Ed Cobb, William Fawcett, George Eldredge, Forrest Taylor, Chubby Johnson and stuntman Henry Wills in a great 'gag' (stunt) as he drives a wagon down a steep mountain slope.

 OVERLAND MAIL (1939 Monogram)
Pony Express rider Jack Randall busts up a counterfeiting ring run by Tris Coffin (with a terrible Italian accent!) and Dennis Moore. Rusty the Wonder Horse saves Jack but nothing saves this Monogram meandering. It's from Randall's later non-singing entries.

 WILD WESTERNERS (1962 Columbia)
Indians and outlaws after a gold shipment headed for eastern Union troops in 1864. Routine. Star James Philbrook (a cross between Rod Cameron and Rod Taylor) went on to make several Italian oaters. Interesting casting of rock guitarist Duane ('Rebel Rouser') Eddy as a deputy (he also plays the 'twangy guitar' theme) and pop singer Guy Mitchell as outlaw Johnny Silver. Eddy is bad - Mitchell is quite good. Kind of a B-western 'last roundup' for producer Sam Katzman. Look for old standbys Marshall Reed, Terry Frost, Pierce Lyden, Henry Wills, Dan White, Bob Steele, Don Harvey, Harry Lauter, Joe McGuinn and Nestor Pavia. Eastman color.

 WAGONS WEST (1952 Monogram)
Pretty tame wagon train tale with Frank Ferguson running guns to the Cheyenne. Not up to scripter Dan Ullman's usual fine standards. Gorgeous Peggie Castle is pretty much wasted in a routine part but former Rough Ridin' Kid Michael Chapin has a nice part, even saving star Rod Cameron's life in the last reel by jumping badman Henry Brandon. Originally in Cinecolor.

 SILVER BANDIT (1950 International United)
Western swing bandleader (and non-actor) Spade Cooley was at the height of his popularity in 1947 when he produced this inept bottom-of-the-barrel musical western as a showcase for himself. Also features several other late '40s cowboy star wannabes - pudgy Bob Gilbert, ultra stiff Billy Dix, stuntman Hugh Hooker and singer Ginny Jackson. You'll find these same no-talents responsible for other scalawag productions of the same era - RED ROCK OUTLAW, KID FROM GOWER GULCH, and an unsold TV pilot based on the comic strip 'Rick O'Shay'. They don't make 'em any worse! Produced by Cooley and originally shot in 1947 on 16mm in color. International-United finally distributed it in 1950 in black and white. The Silver Bandit rides on a gorgeous Bohlin-made saddle that's undoubtedly worth more now (if not then) than the original $30,000 negative cost of this feature. Director Elmer Clifton was at the end of a long trail of directing and writing low budget westerns after starting in 1918. Over the decades, he helmed Rex Lease, Kermit Maynard, Texas Rangers, Johnny Mack Brown, Don Barry, even Buck Jones. He first hooked up with Gilbert and Dix during Jimmy Wakely's SONG OF THE SIERRAS ('47).

 BITTER CREEK (1954 Allied Artists)
In Wild Bill Elliott's last series his characterizations moved ever closer to those of one of his screen idols, William S. Hart. The films were not A's, but they weren't Bs either - written as they were with more than an average amount of thought. This tough, taut revenge tale (written by director George WaGGner (he always spelled it with two capital G's) has Elliott out to avenge his brother's death. Interestingly, this is the first western for both Claude Akins and Beverly Garland. Garland never seemed to get out of B pictures, but Akins certainly did. Directed by Republic veteran Thomas Carr.

 CARSON CITY KID (1940 Republic)
Marshal Gabby Hayes is out to catch Roy Rogers as 'notorious outlaw' the Carson City Kid who seeks to avenge his bother's death at the hands of saloon owner Bob Steele. Steele is excellent in his second character role a year after his OF MICE AND MEN triumph. Good roles also for Francis MacDonald as Roy's doublecrossing pal and Noah Beery Jr. as a naive, young prospector. A standout part for leading lady Pauline Moore playing against type as a saloon singer (she gets to warble the pleasant "Are You the One" but claims to me her singing voice was dubbed in by someone else.) Interesting for a B-western, she actually married Roy at the end. One of the best 2 or 3 from Rogers' late '30s-early '40s historical westerns period. A lot of this one's success is due to Steele.

VIGILANTES RIDE (1944 Columbia)
Ranger Russell 'Lucky' Hayden infiltrates the outlaw gang that killed his brother. With Tris Coffin, Bob Kortman, Jack Kirk and sidekick Dub 'Cannonball' Taylor. The highlight of this series (besides the non stop action) was the music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. Songwriter Cindy Walker ("You Don't Know Me", "Blue Canadian Rockies" and hundreds more) wrote nearly all the songs the Texas Playboys perform in this and seven others in this series. Russell Hayden's erect riding style showed him to be one of the best horsemen in B-westerns. What makes director William Berke's work interesting from 1935-1958 is the ease with which he switched from westerns (primarily with Charles Starrett and Hayden at Columbia) to crime (DICK TRACY, FALCON IN MEXICO) to jungle (several Johnny Weissmuller Jungle Jim entries) and other genres. He was as prolific a producer (many Gene Autry, 3 Mesquiteers titles at Republic) and screenwriter as he was a director. Early in his career ('35-'36) he wrote and produced low budget Harry Carey and Jack Perrin B's under the name Lester Williams.

OH, SUSANNA! (1936 Republic)
Typical fast moving early Gene Autry in his mystical, musical world where West meets East and out and out silliness meets straight western action. Nobody made this blend work except Gene. In the comedy team of Smiley Burnette and professor Earle Hodgins, Hodgins outshines Smiley by 100 watts or more. This was Gene's first western under a new seven year contract after 'going on strike' and undergoing rigorous negotiations and a lot of legal wrangling between he and Republic prexy Herbert J. Yates. For the record, Gene kisses former Ziegfeld dancer/singer Frances Grant at the fade-out. It was Gene's third on-screen kiss following Barbara Pepper in SAGEBRUSH TROUBADOUR and Ann Rutherford in SINGING VAGABOND. OH SUSANNA! began a new format for Autry oatuners by employing various country music groups with usually regional radio fame. The Light Crust Doughboys of Ft. Worth, TX, offer a nice rendition of "Ride On Vaquero". The bass fiddle player here with the Doughboys is Bert Dodson (1915-1994) who became part of the Cass County Boys years later, who were seen with Gene in several of his Columbia westerns and TV shows. Gene's old pard, Frankie Marvin, has one of his better roles as badman Hank. Good script from Oliver Drake in which Gene is mistaken for outlaw Wolf Benson and vice versa. Fast paced Joe Kane direction.

 THE FUGITIVE (1933 Monogram)
One of those East goes West Rex Bell B's as an undercover Rex and outlaw Bob Kortman break out of prison to recover hidden loot on George Hayes' ranch (the oft used Jauregui ranch location). Slow going Harry Fraser script/direction. Not a Bell-ringer.

 TIMBER TRAIL (1948 Republic)
Another good Bob Williams script for Monte Hale wherein Roy Barcroft stirs up trouble between brothers who operate stagecoaches and telegraph lines. Williams wrote some of the very best Bill Elliott, Allan 'Rocky' Lane and Monte Hale Bs at Republic before he moved on to script MACAO with Robert Mitchum, IRON SHERIFF with Sterling Hayden, and the sci-fi classic 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH. James Burke nicely replaced Hale's regular comedy sidekick Paul Hurst in this one, which was the last Hale in Trucolor and the last to employ singing group Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage. Hereafter, the Hales concentrated more on action.

 LONE STAR VIGILANTES (1942 Columbia)
Good plot has reb soldiers Bill Elliott (as Wild Bill Hickok), Tex Ritter and knockabout comic Frank Mitchell returning home from the Civil War to encounter carpetbagging State Police, helped by traitor Luana Walters in a good/bad girl role. This series was usually wall to wall action but this entry is hampered by a lack of it.

 HEADIN' NORTH (1930 Tiffany)
Even at this early stage in his career, in one long explanatory sequence, Bob Steele exhibits strong signs of the fine actor he was to become, especially in character roles apart from B-westerns. (See OF MICE AND MEN for example.) This one exudes a fascinating raw charm that will keep you smiling all the way. Filled with adult pre-code overtones, especially when Bob's girl tells him she's allowed another man to make love to her in order to gain information.

 CALIFORNIA FRONTIER (1938 Columbia)
Captain Buck Jones is sent to California as a one man army to stop a gold-mad gang (Milburn Stone, Stanley Blystone, Glenn Strange) from violently terrorizing and driving Mexican landowners from their rightful property. Watch for Billy Bletcher, the 'voice' of the Lone Ranger in the first serial, as an alcoholic bellhop. Sadly, this was Buck's last solo series western (his Rough Riders titles w/Tim McCoy came in '41). Charles Starrett was waiting in the wings at Columbia. Not Jones' best, but far from his worst as an exit to eighteen years of top western stardom.

 TRIGGER SMITH (1939 Monogram)
Ex-Marshal Jack Randall pins on a star one more time to round up the outlaws (Warner Richmond, Dave O'Brien, Dennis Moore) responsible for his brother's death. He's aided by 'comic' Frank Yaconelli and champion junior trick roper Bobby Clack (later Clark) in his first film. By 1940, production costs were being cut on the Randalls, eliminating Jack's songs and slicing the running time to around 50 minutes. For this one, producer Bob Tansey went a step further, lifting most of the ending of Jack's first, RIDERS OF THE DAWN, and reusing it here. It's great stagecoach on the desert footage, but it's a cheat.

 RACKETEERS OF THE RANGE (1939 RKO)
This is a Gene Autry movie in George O'Brien clothing. Former Autry scriptwriter Oliver Drake wrote this 'taming of the spoiled girl' modern day rustlers plot for O'Brien and the similarities to the customary Autry ingredients and plot are staggering. If you watch it with that in mind, you'll be amazed! Exceptional production values and a rousing climax aboard a train highlight D. Ross Lederman's tight direction. O'Brien's pleasing personality and forceful presence make it all come together wonderfully. A true highlight is watching George jitterbug to a western swing version of "Red River Valley" by Ray Whitley, Chill Wills and Frankie Marvin.

 LIGHTNING TRIGGERS (1935 Kent)
No lightning here, just a mild thunderstorm. Also, no triggers. Several fistfights, but no gunplay. Other than being a bit stoop shouldered, former Northwestern football star Reb Russell always looks good enough in action scenes and in the saddle - problem is, he just can't act! He delivers lines the way we all did in the 6th grade school play. In this one, working for the cattlemen's association to round up rustlers, Reb benefits from the deviltry of Fred Kohler, one of the best heavies of the '30s, but it's not enough to save a plodding script. After completing this series of 9, Reb became a successful rancher in Kansas. Leading lady Yvonne Pellitier was better than average and should have gone further. She disappeared in '38 after bit parts in major films, THE BUCCANEER and LAST TRAIN TO MADRID. Song under titles is sung by Smiley Burnette.

 GAY BUCKAROO (1932 Allied)
Hoot Gibson was not handsome, didn't wear fancy duds like Maynard and Mix. He was possibly the most common (therefore realistic) cowboy in westerns. Therein lay much of his popularity - the audience could relate to him, especially women who took to his boyish charm more than any other cowboy star. He also appealed more to an older crowd than he did kids. His films contained as much comedy as they did action. Gibson usually played variations on the happy-go-lucky cowpoke who'd land in trouble by sheer accident. Then, when pressed, would overcome the trouble as much with his brains as with his fists or gun, which he seldom carried, and if he did, it was stuck in his belt, pocket or boot rather than strapped to his side. Hoot's heyday was in the silents. He reigned at Universal for 13 years, but in 1930 the studio saw fit not to renew his contract. No other major studio offers came along, so the Hooter signed with independent producer M. H. Hoffman who launched his newly formed Allied Pictures in 1931 based on Hoot's popularity. The format of his films remained the same, as you'll see in this one. Hoot straightens out the inveterate gambler (Lafe McKee) as well as his spoiled daughter (Merna Kennedy) and still finds time to bluff out crooked oily gambler Roy D'Arcy, more by brains than action. Watch for Skeeter Bill Robbins as a ranch manager. In real life he was Hoot's ranch manager for years. His only films are with his boss. As a matter of fact, this western may possibly have been filmed on Hoot's own ranch.

 ROUGH RIDING RANGER (1935 Superior)
Just awful, rambling, aimless ultra no budgeter has Rex Lease as a sharpshooting undercover border patrolman infiltrating a gang of silk smugglers (Robert Walker, George Chesebro, Yakima Canutt). Marred by a bad script (Elmer Clifton), several pointless, unfunny scenes with Milburn Morante as a drunk with a cuckoo clock, time wasting horse tricks from Mabel Strickland and her horse Sunday, terrible acting (especially by Carl Mathews), stagnant direction (Clifton again!) and camera work. You do get to hear Rex Allen's cousin, Cactus Mack, yodel with Johnny Luther's Cowboy Band. Short in stature, always starring in low budget fare, Rex Lease found a better career as a character player on into the '60s.

 TEXAS STAGECOACH (1940 Columbia)
Unusual and inventive camera angles from director 'wagon wheel' Joseph H. Lewis enliven this action packed tale of rival stagecoach lines (one owned by gorgeous Iris Meredith and brother Bob Nolan and another by Charles Starrett and his father) set against one another by no-goods Kenneth MacDonald and Dick Curtis. Never a slow moment! Two good songs from the Sons of the Pioneers (Bob Nolan, Pat Brady, Lloyd Perryman, Tim Spencer, Hugh and Karl Farr). Hollywood Reporter claims this was originally scheduled to be titled TEXAS EXPRESS (a song the Pioneers sing) and to star Bill Elliott and Dub Taylor - hard to imagine after watching it though.

 YOUNG BUFFALO BILL (1940 Republic)
Underhanded Trevor Bardette and Chief Thundercloud try to wrest control of a secret gold mine in New Mexico territory being surveyed for the Army by Roy Rogers (as Buffalo Bill) and Gabby Hayes. Fair-haired Pauline Moore (who co-starred in four with Roy) is a bit out of her acting depth as a titled Mexican senorita. Some good action amidst the Vasquez and Red Rock Canyon locations but never quite jells as one of Roy's better 'historical' westerns. Directed by workhorse Joe Kane (1894-1975) who helmed most of Roy's titles in the late '30s and early '40s. Kane directed over 100 westerns in his career, most of them for Republic. He moved on to TV (BONANZA, CHEYENNE, etc.) when Republic closed up shop in the late '50s.

 TRAIL BLAZERS (1940 Republic)
Fast and furious - plenty of action as the 3 Mesquiteers (Bob Livingston, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis) fight to put the telegraph through for the Army, thwarted at every turn by nasty Weldon Heyburn and John Merton. Pauline Moore is the leading lady. Has a Christmas theme as Rufe sings "Jingle Bells". Was it from this trio title that Monogram drew their 'Trail Blazers' name for Maynard and Gibson barely 2 1/2 years later?

 DAYS OF JESSE JAMES (1939 Republic)
Roy Rogers and Gabby Hayes infiltrate the James Gang. Jesse (Don Barry), Frank (Michael Worth) and Cole Younger (Glenn Strange). But the real snakes here are banker Arthur Loft and railway detective Harry Woods. Pretty leading lady Pauline Moore plays Gabby's daughter. Notice Roy's gun about to fall out of his holster during the bank holdup. Good one from Roy's early 'historical' period.

 TRIGGER TRIO (1937 Republic)
Ralph Byrd (as Ray 'Tucson' Corrigan's bother Larry) replaces Bob 'Stoney Brooke' Livingston (actually injured in a fall, but said to be in Mexico in the film) in the 3 Mesquiteers this one time only as they fight the outbreak of a deadly hoof and mouth disease on the Kernville location range being spread by unscrupulous Cornelius Keefe. Minor role for child star Sammy McKim but a dandy one for Republic's oft used St. Bernard, Buck (also seen in MELODY TRAIL, ROBINSON CRUSOE OF CLIPPER ISLAND and CALL OF THE YUKON). Final showdown comes on the Kernville swinging bridge. In my eyes, this film commits a real no-no when Max 'Lullaby' Terhune moves a one mile horse race marker a half mile further down the trail, allowing hero Ralph Byrd to win a horse race he would have otherwise rightfully lost. Good guys shouldn't cheat, even for a good cause!

 SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES (1937 Republic)
Gene Autry encounters lots of sheep double dealing and ranch mix-ups from Al Bridge, Edward Hearn, George Chesebro and Tom London as he tries to show Eastern ranch owner and animal husbandry agricultural college graduate Polly Rowles and her gal-pals that sheep and cattle won't mix. We even get to hear perennial badman George Chesebro sing a few bars of the title song, at Gene's pistol point. Look for future stars George (Letz) Montgomery and Art Davis in bit parts. Is it just me or does anyone else agree dimpled Polly Rowles was one of Gene's cutest and most talented leading ladies. Sadly, this was the only western for the Philadelphia born (1914) actress who later turned to TV and was a regular on JAMIE ('53-'54) where she was Brandon De Wilde's aunt. She also starred as E. G. Marshall's secretary on THE DEFENDERS ('61-'62). Last seen in the Candice Bergen feature, THE GROUP in '66. Gene sings his classic "You're The Only Star In My Blue Heaven" (Gene's first wife Ina's favorite.)

 ROLLING CARAVANS (1938 Columbia)
Mildmannered, soft spoken leading man Jack Luden (billed on screen as John Luden for this one) just wasn't forceful enough for the Saturday matinee crowd. Producer Larry Darmour went through Bob Allen and Luden until he got it right with Bill Elliott. Luden is even saddled here with operating a dummy (a task better left to Max Terhune) and quoting Shakespeare! Luden once asked his leading lady of this film, Eleanor Stewart, to marry him. We're all glad she wisely said 'No' as Jack, the nephew of William Luden who founded the cough drop firm in 1881, ended up in San Quentin in 1950 on possession of heroin. He died in prison in 1951. Jack's sidekicks are the unlikely pair of Bud Osborne (misspelled Osbourne on screen) and Cactus Mack, usually cast as owlhoots. Cast includes silent kid star Buzz Barton, Slim Whitaker, Dick Cramer and Tuffy the dog, who nearly steals the picture untying ropes, stopping runaway wagon teams, leading Luden to his horse and tackling badman Harry Woods in the last reel. Woods earns his Top 10 B-Western Badman's status by ambushing girls, killing fathers and kicking dogs!

 SOUTH OF SANTA FE (1942 Republic)
In order to kidnap and ransom rich businessmen, eastern gangster Paul Fix (and his 'boys', Jack Ingram, Lynton Brent) joins Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes and the Sons of the Pioneers on the annual Ride of the Vaqueros - designed to keep the spirit of the old west alive and promote investors for leading lady Linda Hayes' mine. This is one of the westerns where Pat Brady began to emerge from the Pioneers group as a comic foil to Gabby. Brady was Roy's regular sidekick on his '50s TV series. Watch for Spade Cooley (on guitar) with the Pioneers who perform a memorable version of Tim Spencer's "Headin' For the Home Corral" when the riders arrive at Hayes' rancho. Judy Clark (later Richard Powers' [aka Tom Keene] co-star in DESPERADOES OF THE WEST Republic serial) has a role and sings "Yodel Your Troubles Away". Good story with most of the action coming towards the end.

 SANTA FE SADDLEMATES (1945 Republic)
This is the cream of the crop among Sunset Carson's 15 B-westerns for Republic. Sunset's in top form, he never looked fitter. There's good chemistry between Sunset and leading lady Linda Stirling, who sings, but not too well. Look for future (but minor) B-western star Johnny Carpenter and former '30s minor B-western star Rex Lease as two of the outlaws. Directed by the stalwart Tommy Carr and featuring Roy Barcroft, Bud Geary, Kenne Duncan, Bob Wilke, Henry Wills and George Chesebro.

 YELLOW DUST (1936 RKO)
Long on romantic comedy and short on action, this is the weakest of Richard Dix's RKO westerns. Comic Andy Clyde is an asset in only his second western. By 1940 he'd become well known as Hopalong Cassidy sidekick California Carlson.

 FUGITIVE OF THE PLAINS (1943 PRC)
Buster Crabbe as Billy the Kid must run down outlaws using his name in a reign of terror over the Corriganville location range. The fact the outlaw leader is a black clad female (Maxine Leslie) gives this one a lift. Otherwise, all the regular PRC Crabbe cast (Jack Ingram, Kermit Maynard, Karl Hackett, George Chesebro, Frank Ellis), fisticuffs and gunfire.

 RED ROCK OUTLAW (1950 Friedgen)
Let's go make a cowboy movie! It's amateur night at the westerns as unlikely hero Bob Gilbert makes Reb Russell (whom he resembles) looks like John Wayne or Randolph Scott. The only real pros involved are former Jimmy Wakely sidekick Lee 'Lasses' White and Monogram leading lady Reno Browne. Veteran director Elmer Clifton wouldn't even put his real name on this amateurish mess, hiding behind the alias of Elmer S. Pond. Producer Raymond Friedgen was also responsible for the awful KID FROM GOWER GULCH, also with Gilbert (and Spade Cooley).

 THREE MESQUITEERS (1936 Republic)
The newly formed 3 Mesquiteers (Ray Corrigan, Bob Livingston and Syd Saylor on a motorcycle) round up range rats J. P. McGowan, John Merton and Al Bridge in Kernville (standing in for but looking nothing like New Mexico). A great start to a terrific series of B-westerns. Republic made a wise move by quickly (in the second film) replacing Syd Saylor with Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin for the series. Saylor's broad humor and his bobbing Adam's Apple just weren't right for the part. Also notice the different opening theme music apart from the rest of the series.

 GAY AMIGO (1949 United Artists)
The Cisco Kid (Duncan Renaldo) and Pancho (Leo Carrillo) are blamed by the cavalry for a series of robberies actually committed by a gang disguised as Mexicans. Look for Clayton Moore in a bit role as an Army officer. When Moore made this he was just months away from signing a deal that would change his life forever.

 HEADIN' FOR TROUBLE (1931 Big 4)
One good bar room battle between Bob Custer and veteran heavy Robert Walker is about all this mild J. P. McGowan directed low budgeter about crooked gamblers has to offer. Jack Kirk's music group plays and young Andy Shuford spins ropes and dances.

 TWO FISTED JUSTICE (1931 Monogram)
Tom Tyler's Poncho Riders bring justice to outlaws in this stagy, early talkie with way over the top hammy acting by lead heavy William Walling and leaden direction by inept G. Arthur Durlam. There's a brutal torture scene in which Walling threatens to kill young Bobby Nelson's dog that must have traumatized kids of the '30s when they saw this at the theater. Even usually dependable character actor John Elliott seems lost in this one.

 BORDER DEVILS (1932 Art Class)
The real devil in this Harry Carey low budgeter is the confusing, talky and practically actionless script (by sometime director Harry Fraser hiding under the pseudonym Harry C. Crist). Only worth watching for a few clever exchanges between Carey and George Hayes.

 NORTH OF THE ROCKIES (1942 Columbia)
Ranch foreman Tex Ritter and Mountie Bill Elliott round up fur bandits in another of their fabulous action packed Columbia pairings. For a change, Tex gets the better role! Rousing, high energy music score, as usual, adds much to the non-stop action well directed by Lambert Hillyer. With Shirley Patterson, Lloyd Bridges, Larry Parks, Ian MacDonald, knockabout comic Frank Mitchell. Look for Gertrude Hoffman, who was later so funny as Mrs. Odetts on Gale Storm's MY LITTLE MARGIE sit-com in the '50s, in one of her rare western films.

 BUFFALO BILL RIDES AGAIN (1947 Screen Guild)
Interesting one-off Jack Schwartz 70 minute B-western that looks like it might have been intended as the first of a Buffalo Bill series with Richard Arlen. Directed by low budget B-vet Bernard B. Ray (Tyler, Perrin, Custer, Steele) who filled the cast with familiar faces - Ted Adams, Jennifer Holt, Ed Cassidy, Frank McCarroll, Ed Cobb, Holly Bane, Charles Stevens, Lee Shumway, Carl Matthews. Exciting score by Modest Altschuler. Oddity - Ed Cobb seems to replace Ted Adams halfway through the picture(?)

 NORTH OF THE BORDER (1946 Screen Guild)
Neat little 42 minute vestpocket western has Russell Hayden finding Canadian fur thieves the murderers of his old friend. Good cast - sleazy Doug Fowley, pretty Inez Cooper (whose westerns were sadly too few), Mountie Lyle Talbot (riding a horse, which he hated to do), I. Stanford Jolley, Dick Alexander and Anthony Warde - along with competent direction by old pro Breezy Eason bolsters this James Oliver Curwood 'story'. This series of four fastpaced Hayden Northwoods/Mountie films are all a lot better than many historians give them credit for. Oldtimer Milburn Morante (Moranti) (1887-1964) whose filmwork dates back to 1915 is credited with makeup in this title. Morante starred in HEARTS OF THE RANGE in '21, worked in silents with Buzz Barton, Jack Perrin, Dick Hatton and others and even directed a series of Pete Morrison silents in '26. Morante disappeared from the screen in '30, then returned with a vengeance in '35, appearing with Rex Lease, 3 Mesquiteers, Bill Cody, Jimmy Wakely, Tom Tyler, Buck Jones and winding up a long career in several Johnny Mack Brown Monograms such as OUTLAW GOLD and WEST OF WYOMING.

 SKY BANDITS (1940 Monogram)
Canadian Mounties Renfrew (James Newill) and Kelly (Dave O'Brien) take to the air to foil gold hijackers who take their cues from a phony children's radio fables program. Sci-fi elements are introduced as Dwight Frye (Renfield in DRACULA) brings airplanes down via a power wave beam. But how do the baddies always keep the moving airplanes in sight through that one small rooftop window? Some genuine laffs from character actor Jack Clifford as deaf trader 'Whispering Smith'. Silent comic Snub Pollard has an unbilled cameo. Dave Sharpe doubles Newill in one big fight scene. Directed by Ralph Staub, best known for hundreds of SCREEN SNAPSHOTS shorts he directed/wrote/photographed and produced for Columbia from 1940 on.

 STAGECOACH DRIVER (1951 Monogram)
Screenwriter Joseph O'Donnell dusted off his Buster Crabbe DEVIL RIDERS ('43) plot for this stagecoach vs. Pony Express mail contract tale with the Whip Wilson, Jim Bannon, Fuzzy Knight trio. Gloria Winters (SKY KING's niece Penny) makes her only B-western appearance. Whip wears a buckskin outfit and long white scarf completely unlike clothes he donned in any other oater. He snakes out his bullwhip only one time. With Pierce Lyden, Leonard Penn, Lane Bradford, John Hart, Marshall Reed.

 TEXAS RENEGADES (1939 Producers Distributing Corp.)
This was to be the first of a Tim McCoy series to be lensed in Prescott, AZ. Unfortunately, there were no more as PDC, facing financial difficulties, including a $90,000 lien held by the Pathe film lab, was forced to reorganize and became Producers Releasing Corporation, PRC. It's a strictly routine affair with most of the action a stock footage cattle stampede through town towards the end. Interesting to see character player Harry Harvey as Tim's sidekick, Noisy. Harvey also sidekicked in a few for Fred Scott but was usually seen as a father, townsman or sheriff in a lengthy career that stretched from 1936 to 1972. In the '50s, Harvey was Sheriff Potter on the ROY ROGERS TV series.

 SIX GUN GOSPEL (1943 Monogram)
By the numbers, railroad coming to town land grab, undercover stranger in town-plot, but here the 'numbers' are fast moving and well done with Johnny Mack Brown as Nevada Jack McKenzie and his sidekick Raymond Hatton battling badmen Kenneth MacDonald, Roy Barcroft (just a couple of months away from signing a long running exclusive Republic contract), Edmund Cobb and Bud Osborne. Directed by Brown regular Lambert Hillyer. One of the bright spots is Raymond Hatton, masquerading as a parson, singing "that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard" at the church social. Former Universal and Republic minor star Eddie Dew is wasted in the thankless part of a Wells Fargo express agent.

 COLORADO (1940 Republic)
Undercover Union officer Roy Rogers is sent to Colorado territory (which looks oddly like California's Vasquez Rocks) to quell secessionist unrest only to find his brother (Milburn Stone) at the bottom of the trouble. Both brothers have eyes for Pauline Moore, who gives the best performance of her four Rogers films. Many actors judge other actors by death scene performances, and Hal Taliaferro (Wally Wales) gives an exceptional one here. He's well directed by Rogers regular, Joe Kane. Look for Vester Pegg as one of the secessionists. Pegg was the Cisco Kid in the long lost silent two-reeler, BORDER TERROR ('19) and had small parts in some of the earliest John Ford films.

 LAND OF HUNTED MEN (1943 Monogram)
The last Range Busters trio (Crash Corrigan, Dennis Moore, Max Terhune) aided and abetted by black comic Snowflake (Fred Toones) come to the aid of Sheriff Steve Clark who's beset by mine payroll bandits (Charlie King, Ted Mapes, Frank McCarroll, John Merton). Lanky stuntman Mapes was a stunt double for Gary Cooper, Charles Starrett and many others. Things become a bit surreal when Terhune's dummy, Elmer, talks and acts 'on his own'. There's about 5 minutes of leading lady Phyllis Adair-centered embarrassment midway. Possibly the silliest 'girl-competition' segment ever in a Range Busters. This oater marked the return of Corrigan to the threesome after a layoff of four titles while Dave Sharpe spelled him. This was also the first for Denny Moore replacing John 'Dusty' King, but the series had seen better days. The 'spark' seems gone in this last trio. They were by now just going through the motions and Monogram was more interested in their new Johnny Mack Brown and Trail Blazers series.

 WILD HORSE STAMPEDE (1943 Monogram)
Even with slight paunches, Ken Maynard still tears off some of his famous horse tricks with Tarzan and Hoot Gibson is still adept with a rope, fist and clever quip as they thwart Ian Keith and 'the boys' (Glenn Strange, Tom London, Robert McKenzie) who plan to rustle wild horses much needed by the railroad. Much has been written about Bob Baker being one of the Trail Blazers in this, the first of the series. Certainly, the title card billing does not indicate that as it says, 'Monogram Pictures Corp. presents the Trail Blazers - Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson in (with large letters as they ride along Smith Road at Corriganville) WILD HORSE STAMPEDE with Betty Miles, Bob Baker, Ian Keith.' So in billing, Baker is lumped together with the leading lady and the saloon owner/outlaw leader. When he appears in the film, he's portrayed as a bit of a weak-kneed lawbook-reading sheriff, being knocked down (and not getting up til Ken and Hoot intervene) in the saloon by Tom London. Shortly thereafter, comic Si Jenks makes him holler uncle with an armlock!?! Baker does come alive toward the end, subduing Glenn Strange and getting the fade out near-kiss with Betty Miles. Nevertheless, Ken and Hoot ride off without Bob. These facts suggest this was the only film planned for Baker. Contrary to Hoot's usual outfit, he wears a two-gun rig in this film. A glaring continuity lapse has Hoot change shirt and hat while he's riding hell-bent for leather toward Betty Miles' ranch. Screenwriter Frances Kavanaugh recycled her plot three years later for Eddie Dean's DRIFTIN' RIVER. Both were produced by Robert Tansey, but WILD HORSE STAMPEDE at least had the far better Alan James (1890-1952) as director. Tansey, himself, directed the Dean version.

 DEAD MAN'S GOLD (1948 Western Adventure/Screen Guild)
'The Lash' (LaRue) and Fuzzy (St. John) pop it to range riding owlhoots (John Cason, Pierce Lyden, Terry Frost, Lane Bradford) in Gold Valley (actually Jack Ingram's town and Iverson's location ranch). Former Republic leading lady Peggy Stewart is a definite asset in Lash's 9th outing and one of his best. This is actually the first western in which he was called Lash LaRue on-screen. In his previous eight starrers for PRC he was Cheyenne Davis. Fuzzy, with an itchy nose for trouble, is in top form. Lash's westerns were never strong on plot, but he gave the kids of the late '40s-early '50s what they wanted - a tough as nails, black clad, whip wielding hero and an hour's worth of hard riding, gunplay and fistfights (and there's a doozy here with Cason).

 HONOR OF THE WEST (1939 Universal)
Singin' Sheriff Bob Baker has to straighten out friend Carleton Young, who's tied in with a gang of rustlers. To complicate matters, both men are in love with the same girl. A strong story, expert direction from George WaGGner and good action (when it comes) make this one of the most watchable of Baker's dozen. Baker's voice never sounded better than on songwriter Fleming Allan's "The Old Chuckwagon", sung here with a group. In my opinion, Baker always sounded better when his tenor voice melded in with a vocal group. In her only oater, the leading lady is Marjorie Bell - better known as Marge Champion when she married Gower Champion and they became a top dance team in MGM musicals. One hell-bent for leather riding scene has her looking scared to death and about to fall out of the saddle.